


For now and Forever

by FeistyParadox



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Growing Up, M/M, Male-Reader, Reader-Insert, monster reader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-25
Updated: 2018-04-08
Packaged: 2019-03-23 15:11:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 26,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13790343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeistyParadox/pseuds/FeistyParadox
Summary: It was meant to be nothing more than another simple, uneventful day in your simple, uneventful life. You were taking a break from the world around you, as you did so often before. Never would you have imagined to meet Asriel, much less befriend him. If you had only known what you've gotten yourself into, you would have ran...





	1. A rushed introduction

The sound of rushing water echoed throughout the caverns while crystals in the ceiling doused the entire scene in cold light. It was one of countless waterfalls scatterd throughout the cavesystem, which stretched deep underneath the mountain. While you were still unsure just how many there were exactly, you never really bothered to investigate. For now you were trying to keep your mind empty, even if just for a moment, so the sound of rushing water would simply wash away everything that worried you. Yet you caught yourself thinking about where the water comes from and where it goes. It's a cycle with no origin, that was unexplainable to your young mind, very much like these many other unexplainable things going on in the underground. Crystals that emit light, trees growing in Snowdin, weather and invisible walls. All these things existed down here but instead of thinking too much about them, you settled for the only reasonable thing to do and blamed magic. You simply laid back and let your feet dangle in the lakes crytal clear water. Sure, the ground was slightly muddy and sitting on it would surely ruin your clothes, if it wasn't for your trusty, and for you way too large, cloak. You never cared for the fact that its sleeves were so long that they would cover the entirety of your arms and hands. Nor did the fact, that the cloaks cloth constantly dragged along the ground, collecting more and more dirt as you walked trough the caverns. Taking of your hood you leaned back, hands placed on the muddy ground for support, as you took in the serenity of the scenery. With your eyes closed, you began to drift off into your own world but were all too soon taken back to reality again as voices seemed to echo from the distance.

"Mom, Chara, c'mon hurry, the snow is waiting for us." A chirpy voice, full of joy and juvenile innocence bounced of the walls and right into your ears, urging whoever was following to pick up pace. "Easy, my child. The day has just started, and the snow won't run away from us." Another voice, this time loving and motherly hit your ears, followed by a hearty chuckle as if they enjoyed the the younger ones enthusiasm. Soon the voices became louder, causing you to jump up and dry yourself by simply brushing off the water using your magic. It become clear that at least one of them would arrive soon. You pulled up your hood again and were about to set off home as the voice from earlier caused you to stop in your tracks. "Howdy!" It was the same enthusiastic and chirpy voice from just a few moments ago. Hesitantly you turned around and were met with the face of a child. No, not just any child. Asriel, prince of all monsters, stood right infront of you. With a bright smile on his face and eyes sparkling with excitement he put out his hand. You returned the gesture and were surprised as he grabbed your hand, or rather your sleeve, and began to shake it eagerly, his enthusiasm unwavering. "I have never seen you here before. Are you new around here? Where are you from? What are you doing here? What's your name?" His immediate rush of questions left you even more surprised than you already were. Just as you found your voice, ready to respond to his myriad questions, another figure, his mother Toriel you assumed, emerged from the path that lead further into the cave, another child, obviously human, following behind her.

"Please my child. If you keep running like this you'll be exhausted before we arive in snowdin." The amused look on her face quickly turned into one of surprise as her eyes fell on you. "Oh, I have to apologize for my sons behaviour. He's always like this when he gets excited, especially when he meets another child. But, if I may ask, what is a child like you doing here at a dangerous place like this without his parents?" She didn't know you, yet her Voice was full of concern. "Actually I was right about to go back home to my parents in Snowdin. I usally come here to..." You couldn't finish what you were saying as you were cut of by Asriel. "Snowdin, that's where we are going. Would you like to tag along?" He looked at you, eyes wide open, the spark in his eyes intensifying with every second that passesd, almost af if he was about to fire a beam of concentrated joy from his eyes. "Asriel!" Toriel to shouted from behind. "You can't just run around an invite random strangers to tag along with you, child or not." She sounded both, upset and worried. "No, no. Its alright." You responded. "As I said, I was right about to make my way back to Snowdin and I wouldn't mind some company." Asriel's sudden shout, or rather bleat of joy startelt you a little. Quickly turning your head towards him you saw a smile so bright that it was almost blinding. "That's awesome. Once we're there we can have a snowball fight, or build a snowfort, or make snow angles or, or..." He fell silent for a moment as he realized that he dashed off again, still holding on to your sleeve.

He immediatly let go of you, which only caused you to tumble across the room trying to regain your balance. "Oh, he he, sorry... I didn't realized I was still holding your hand, err... sleeve. Sorry about that." He looked at you, with a hint of embarssment on his face, as he scratched the back of his head. "It's alright, I'm fine... I guess." You responded, panting from the spontaneous sprint. His smile returned to his face but was soon replaced with a look that indicated that he must have forgotten something very important "I totally forgot to introduce you to Chara. They're my sibling you know. The best sibling in the whole Underground, no, the whole world. Im sure you'll be friends in no time." Asriel looked back at the way the two of you came from, soon realizing that he dragged you along for quite a distance. "I think we should wait for them to arrive here." He streched the 'I', as if he was embarrased once again. "You look like you need a moment to catch your breath anyway." He chuckled nervously, looking at you as if he felt bad for making you run for such a distance without a warning. It didn't took too long for Chara and Toriel to arrive. Both of them looking exhausted as if they just run in marathon. As soon as they were in sight, Asriel dashed towards them. "Just where does he take all that energy?" You silently asked yourself as you watched him grab Chara's hand, dragging them with him and right towards you. In a matter of seconds he stood right infront of you again, his smile just as bright as before. Chara, on the over hand, seemed quite disstressed, as the streaks of their brown hair scatterd across their face. Asriel let go of Chara's hand and took a proud pose, finaly able to introduce his sibling to someone new. "Chara this is... errr... this... is..." Once more his expression dropped from cheerful to embaressed.

"You seriously dragged him off before he could tell you his name." Chara gave a hearty laught. "Hey, I know you a bit forward when you meet someone new. But this is an entirely new level, even for you." They continued to tease their brother. "Sh- shut up!", Asriel yelled at them, standing on the tip of his toes as he angled his arms, trying too look intimidating. Emphasize on trying. You couldn't help it but seeing him like this made you laugh, as it was just too adorable too be considered intimidating. He seemed to pick up your sounds of amusement, as his eyes focused on you. "So, what's your name?" He asked you, smiling again. You soon realized that his smile was contagious, as you felt how the corners of you mouth shifted upwards. Underneath your hood however, your smile remained unseen. "It's ____." "That's a nice name", Asriel tilted his head slighly and clapped his hands... or maybe paws, you weren't quite sure, together. "So ____, this is Chara, Chara this is ____." He paused for a moment before continueing. "Well, this was a lot more awkward than I expected." After the rather awkward introduction Asriel's eyes turned towards his mother, who seemed to have finally caught up with her overly excited son. "See mom, this is ____. He's a really nice. I mean I think he is, we just met but I'm sure he's really nice once you get to know him. He wasn't rude when I dragged him off, so that's a plus. He doesn't seem to be much of a talker though and he does wear a rather shady looking cloak that's way too large for him and I haven't seen his face, or any other part of his body, but that doesn't mean he can't be nice. Even if..."

"We get it Asriel. In your world everyone can be nice, even the shady looking ones. There's no need to repeat yourself over and over again. And don't forget the fact that you didn't really let him speak up", Chara interrupted Asriel's almost endless talk about the possibility of you beeing a nice person, maybe. "Hey, isn't that the sentry near near the waterfalls entrance? That means we're almost in Snowdin. C'mon everyone hurry." With these words, Asriel dashed off yet again. You look towards Chara and Toriel, whi were both sighing in mild annoyance. With a simple shrug you turned around started running towards the exit, the cloth of your cloak wavering as the sound of your hasty steps echoed of the walls. You stopped next to Asriel, who was admireing his sorrounding. The tall trees and their snow covered crowns, the snowy ground that sparkled under the crystals light, the beautifully decorted tree in the distance shining with soft and warm light and even the occasional block of ice that floated down the nearby river, only to dissapear and never show up again. All of it seemed to capture the young prince's heart. "Well, welcome to Snowdin." You greeted. "Welcome back" He corrected. "I've been here before you know. Back when I met Chara in the ruins of the old capital." He looked at you with a smile as he told about one of his fondest memories. "So, you live here, right? It must be absolutly awesome to live in a place like this. Snow everywhere, all day long. Just imagine all the fun things you can do here." Asriel looked towards the caverns celling as he imagined all the fun activities you can do in the snow.

"The underground is a really strange place, don't you think so ____?" His head turned back to you, a dreamily expression on his face. "A small village that has always been covered in snow where no one really knows where it comes from followed by a magical cave full of waterfalls and other mysteries. And then there's Hotland with all of its steam powered machines. These places are so different and yet their so close to each other. And then there are all these other places way outside the capital." He paused for another moment, turning the rest of his body towards you. "Have you ever been to hotland? It might not be the perfect place for you, but there are so many awesome places. Like the laboratory or the MTT-Hotel. The restaurant there has amazing food, and the comedy shows are always hilarious. Oh, and the capital is really close by. Not much further from it is the castle and my home. You really should come over someday. I can show you my room, we can play games with Chara and in the evening we can all enjoy a slice of my mothers legendary butterscotch-cinanmon pie. Oh, you HAVE to try that. It's the best pie you'll ever have. Well you don't have to if you don't want to. You don't even have to come if you don't want to. We just met after all, but I would be really happy if you decided to do so. There aren't many children around my age around, and those who are don't seem to like me. They say I cry way too much." Asriel seemed to sniffle slightly at the last part. He started of so ecstatic and now he was almost crying. "I'll consider it." Asriel gasped, his eyes lighting up as they focused on yours.

"Really? You really mean it? THANK YOU!" He swung his head from side to side in joy, causing his long ears to flop around. Seeing him like this was just too adorable and you couldn't help but giggle slightly. For a short moment there was nothing else than Asriel's happy humming. Minutes passed and you picked up the sound of steps from behind, probably Chara and Toriel. "Did something happen? Asriel seems even happier than usual." Asriel jumped up and turned around mid air, smiling at his mother. "____ just said that he's going to consider coming over for a day." He exclaimed overjoyed. "And now you're acting like your crush just asked you out? C'mon Azzy, you've just met. You haven't even seen his face yet." While this wasn't exactly what was going on, or at least you thought so, Chara wasn't entirely wrong. Asriel did act like you just asked him out, even though he was the one that asked you to come over. "I have to say though, you two might make for a cute couple, right ____?" Chara teased. "We're friends, thats it. Nothing more, nothing less. We barely even know each other." You said, slightly embarresed "Yeah, he's right. We're friends. Falling for a stranger you barely know, THAT'S ridiculous, but not impossible." Asriel tried to strengthen your argument, if it wasn't for his voice betraying him and the fact he said, or rather whispered, the last part. "Then why are you blushing Azzy? And I'm sure you're blushing too ____." Chara continued teasing the two of you. Asriel simply turned around, arms corssed, while you responded with a single "Hmph", as if you where just dissmissing Chara's attempt to tease you. A reaction that only drew another chuckle from them. Silence shrouded the area once again, until Asriel spoke up. "We're here to play in the snow, and not to just tease eachother. So..." Asriel clapped his hands or paws, you were still unsure, together. "Let's have a Snowball fight."


	2. A day in Snowdin

Asriel started off by literaly diving into the snow and began scooping up as much of it as he could, forming into a big ball and hauling it towards you. With a quick motion you raised you arm, causing the fabric of your too long sleeves to flatter wildly. The sphere of snow scattered upon impact with the back of your hand, bits and pieces flying everywhere. Unfortunaly some of the snow hit Chara's head, something you didn't realized at first. "That means war!" They yelled from behind you. The next thing you heard was the crunching of snow under their feet, as they tried to pick up as much of it as humanly possible. You could only guess what they were up to. With a dive roll you dodged their failed attempt to surprise you from behind. You turned around and watched as they tumbled around, dropping face first into the snow like a sack of wet potatoes. Maybe you were taking this snowball fight a little to serious, on the other hand, who likes to have snow rubbed on their face. While you were laughting at Chara's 'graceful' act, a stark realisation hit you. Asriel, who was behind you at this moment, was probably preparing his next assault. Prepared for the worst you turned arround and saw him starring at you, admiration cleary written on his face. "That was INCREDIBLE. The way you blocked my snowball and then dodging Chara, even though were right behind you. How did you do that? Do you have eyes in the back of your head? Can you see the future? Oh, will I ever be happily married?" He clasped his mouth shut. "Ehm... forget I just said that... But seriously, where did you learn this? Are you training to be a royal guard one day?"

You shook your head. "Nope, I just have good hearing." You answered in a upeat tune. "You should really become a royal guard one day. Just imagine, you could become a real hero. People will look up to you, they will tell stories about you. You maybe get your own TV-show. You would be famous..." The joyful spark returned to Asriel's eyes as he named the countless possible results if you decided to join the royal guard."... and whenever the prince would be in danger, you would come and save him. Not only because its your duty but also because you're friends with him. And then you'll...err..." Asriel stopped abruptly, laughting nervously. You couldn't see it, but you were sure he was blushing. "Forget about the last part ok?" His gaze wandered to the ground next to him, before his head shot right back up. "____! Behind you!" The moment he shouted at you, you realized that you completly forgot about Chara. While you were listening to Asriel rambling, you completly overheard theri moves. Before you could turn around, a rather huge ball of snow hit your back with such a force that it send you straight to the ground. While your face was rapidly approaching the snowy blanket underneath you, you felt your hood falling of. Using one hand to hold the hood in place you angled your free arm to soften your fall only to land face first in the snow. Now, lying on the incredibly cold but otherwise rather soft floor, you had to think about a strategy to get back on them and it didn't took too long to come up with one. As Chara came closer you jumped up, whirling up a cloud of snow in which you promptly dissapeared.

While everyone was distracted you sprinted into the nearby row of trees, hiding behind one of the various green giants. Both, Chara and Asriel, were confused about your sudden disappearance. "C'mon Chara, now you scared him away." They were both distracted, the perfect opportunity to strike. You quickly formed two almost perfectly round snowballs and, under the protection of your cover, launched them towards the siblings. The look on their faces as the projectiles hit was priceless. "C'mon, I thought we were having a snowball fight. Not a nice chat out in the cold." You said, emerging from behind the trees with a smug smile. The look of surprise on their faces was qickly replaced with a competitive one. Asriel immeditaly turned around, forming a protective wall of snow around him. Chara on the other hand ran around, trying to be as quick on their feet as they could. You rushed back into the alley of trees, taking cover, occasionally changing sides. Asriel throws were rare but well aimed while Chara throw plenty of snowballs, some of them crumbling mid-air, in hopes that they find their goal. You dodged and blocked most of the snowballs and even caught some that flew in your direction, while waiting for the perfect moment to launch a counter attack. Whenever one of them would launch an attack, or trip like Chara does again and again, you would use your magic to form a few snowballs and launch them in various patterns with a simple move of one, sometimes both of your hands. You continued with your patterend attacks until you were hit in the side while sprinting to the opposite row of trees.

After an overdramatic fall you rolled sideways along the ground. Asriel immeditaly rushed over to you, concered that you might be hurt. In respone, you simply gave him thumbs up, then pointed at him. He looked confused but soon realized what was going on as a snowball you launched at him knocked him off his feet. Now Chara was the last one standing. While they took a triumphant pose, you simply noded towards Asriel, who seemed to understand what you were up to. In near perfect unision the two of you bombarded them with a storm of snowballs. Their desperate struggle to fend of the endless barrage of snowballs ended with them dropping directly on their butt with a dazzeled expression on their face. Everyone was silent for a moment, until Asriel spoke up again. "Wait... ____, you have hands?" Asriel was surprised for whatever reason. You raised your arms, wiggling your hands. "Yeah, did you really thought I don't. I mean, you shook my hand not too long ago, remember?" You answered, clearly amused "Well, I once met a monster without arms. He never told me his name though, everyone just calls him Monster Kid. Besides, I once read something about 'pseudopods'? I think that's that they're called. I didn't really understand anything but it sounded smart." Asriel said. Pseudopods? What's that supposed to be? Maybe you should look it up someday. "You mean MK? I know him, doesn't live too far from my house." You chirped in response. "He does? Well, tell him I said hi next time you see him ok?" "Can do. Hey, dont you think we should get up, wouldn't want to catch a cold now would you?" Asriel nodded his head in response.

You looked at the ceiling. The light of the crystals light seemd to dimish again, a signal that it was getting late. You assumed it was around 5 PM. "I really should go home now. My parents might get worried otherwise." Asriel didn't really liked the thought that you had to leave already and promptly proposed a different idea. "Mind if we accompany you there ____" You shook your head. "Not at all, but you maybe want to ask your mother first." Asriel turned towards his mother, giving her the puppy eyes. In response she simply chuckled, agreeing with the proposed idea. The only one that didn't seem alright with the idea was Chara. "And what about me. I'm sure I have a word in this too." With a bright smile Asriel poked Chara in their chest. "Nope, you don't." They gave of an annoyed sight. "Didn't had any objections anyway." They shrugged their shoulders. This time Asriel grabbed you by your hand instead of you sleeve, smileing at you. "Show us the way ____" You felt a blush creeping up on your cheeks as his fuzzy hand grabbed yours. "W- well, follow me." You could hear Toriel and Chara snicker, as your own voice seemed to stutter slighlty. With Asriel by your side you walked towards the village ahead, Chara and Toriel following close behind. Asriel stopped as you pass the docrated tree in snowdin. "Hey ____, did you know that humans have an old tradition were they decorate trees and place presents underneath them, kinda like we do?" You shook your head. "Chara told me. They call it kissmess... I think." "It's called christmas Azzy. And all I said was that some humans have a simlar tradition, not all of them. I can't tell you any details though. Never had the chance to celebrate christmas." Chara interrupted.

"Than we have a lot to catch up with, don't you think so?" Asriel responded as cheerful as always. Chara simply shrugged in response. After another few minutes of walking you arrived at your home. It wasn't too much, at least not from the outside. Curtains would hang in the windows and flowers were growing in small patches of dirt infront of the house. You didn't recall what type of flowers were growing here. It wasn't important anyway. The navy blue facade was capped by a snow covered roof, grayish smoke blowing from the chimney "You have a really nice home ____, but now that we're here, doesn't that mean it's time to say goodbye?" His eyes were sparkling again. This time not because of joy but because of the tears that began forming in his eyes, as his gaze shifted towrads the ground. You were about to speak up when the door behind you opened. "Welcome home ____. And welcome ____'s friends" Your mother greeted you the same way she always would when you arrived home. "Would you like to come in for a cup of hot choclate?" You were surprised as your mother invited your new friends in, knowing how much the idea of eventually having the queen at her house oneday terrified her. Perhaps she was trying to leave a good first impresion? Whether intentional or not, she certanly did. Asriel's previously gloomy expression seemed to brighten up as he turned towards his mother, jumping up and down. "Can we, mom? Can we? Please say yes. Even Chara to likes the idea, right Chara?" He turned his attention towards Chara "Well, usually I would say no, but we're talking about choclate so I guess I'll make an exception." They said blatantly.

"See mom, even Chara likes the idea." You felt somewhat sorry for Toriel. Saying 'no' seemed impossible in this situation, unless you want to deal with a crying child for the rest of the day. On the other hand, having a cup of hot choclate with a total stanger didn't seemed like the best idea either, even if they seem harmless. Toriel smiled warmly, nodding slighly. "We would love to." A joyful bleat escaped Asriel's throat as he hugged his mother. Seconds later he stood next to you again with a slightly confused expression. "What's so funny ____? Did I do something stupid?" He fell silent for a moment. "WAIT, did I...." This time the pink tint of his skin was clearly visible under his snowhite fur. "Did I really... Golly, this is so embarassing. Chara's going to tease me forever for this." You placed a hand on his shoulder. "What's the matter, I think it's adorable." Asriel's blush deepend, a mixture of embarrasment and pleasent surpise on his face. "Wha- WHAT?! D- did you just...?" The words were simply falling out of his mouth. Your face heated up, as you realised what you just said. Feeling glad that noone could see your blush underneath your hood, you walked towards the door. "Le- let's go inside." Asriel was the first to follow, Chara and Toriel coming in soon after. On your way to the kitchen you heard Asriel admiring the decorations. The ocasional "wow" and an ever so often chuckle came from the hallway. He was probably looking and the various pictures on the wall. A wide variety of photos of you and your family aswell as other pictures. Some of them were actual art while others only consisted of a funny picture with an 'inspirational' qoute. Like the one with temmie holding onto a clothesline, the text 'Hang in there' underneath.

You entered the kitchen and took a seat by the table, everyone else soon following. "So ____, how did you met?" Your mother turned her head towards you while preapring the hot choclate. "Well, it's a rather weird story. I was just sitting by the waterfalls at my usual spot until I heard voices coming from the distance. I decided to take my leave but was stopped by Asriel, who was a 'little' excited to meet someone new. He asked me a bunch of question and then just dragged me off without giving me a chance to answer him. Couldn't even tell him my name." You explained "Seems like he was really eager to get to know you, maybe it's love at the first sight?" Your mother teased, chuckling as she placed the cups of hot choclate on the table. "Mooooooooom, cut it out!" You certainly weren't in the mood for your mothers teasing, especially after everything Chara said and the scene from just a moment ago. "What's the matter. Going by the look on your friend's face I'm pretty sure there's at least something to it." Your mother gently bumped your shoulder while Asriel's face turned so red that a tomato would turn green with envy. Once everyone calmed down after a round of friendly banter, they started to turn their attention towards the steaming cup of hot choclate, Asriel taking a sip before anyone else. As soon as the fluid hit his tounge his eyes flutterd open mouth turning into a wide smile. "This is the best hot choclate I've ever had." Your mother seemed pleasent by Asriel's praise. It didn't took too long for everyone to finish their cups. As you placed your now empty cup on the table your mother spoke up again. "Why don't you show your new friends your room?"

Asriel litteraly jumped out of his seat. "I would love to see ____'s room." You were hesitant at first, considering that you haven't cleaned your room in a while, but seeing how eager Asriel was, you knew that there would be no way around it. "Well, ok then." You looke towards Chara. "You're coming too?" They simply shook their head. "Ok then." You left the kitchen and walked upstairs, Asriel following close behind. As you reached the fist floor you stopped and turned towards Asriel. "So, what do you think. Which door leads to my room?" Asriel rushed towards the second door on the left. "It's this one. It has your name onit so this must be the one." You simply nodded and opend the door. Your room, even though it's a complete mess, was well furnished. A comfy but undone bed stood in a corner at the back of the room. Your box of toys, whose content littered the floor, stands at the front of your bed. The wardrobe, that had a few pictures taped on it, stood by the western wall. Opposite of your bed was a TV and a game console, a few games placed in the shelf on which the TV rested on. Infront of the window stood a table, countless pencils of every colour immaginable and tons of paper scattered around and on top of it. A chair was placed on every end of the table ,one of them covered by one of your sweaters. It was actually one of your favorites. "You room looks really cozy ____, sure, it's a bit messy but mine isn't that different. I mean who likes cleaning up anyway." You simply noded while he continued. "You have pretty much everything a child could ask for. I mean just look around. A TV, a box of toys, a game console and even a drawing corner. And just look how spacious it is. It's perfect for a slumber party. Speaking of slumber parties, we really should have one someday. Just think of all the fun things we can do, like playing video games, or go on our very own fantasy adventure with all of your toys and a few selfmade drawings. Why don't we get started already?"

Asriel once more didn't realize that he was a little overexcited, as he dragged you towards the table. You cleared your throat. "Oh, sorry." He let go of your hand as he stopped infront of the table. "Hey, is that your sweater?" Asriel asked. You nodded. "It's actually one of my favorites." "I like it." Asriel seemed to be lost in thought for a moment, as if he was trying really hard to figure something out. "If that's your favorite, then why are you wearing that cloak instead. Is there something bothering you about the way you look? You don't need to hide you know. I'm sure you look great...." Asriel immediatly placed his hands on his mouth. "Oh golly! Did I really just said that." "L- let's just focus on drawing ok?" You tried to change the subject, hopeing it would make things less awkward than they already are. Things soon returned to normal, as you and Asriel spend time drawing pictures, making up silly stories and laughting together. Neither you nor Asriel, who was half asleep by now, realized that Toriel stood in the door. "Asriel, it's time to go home." Asriel looked up, with a sleepy expression on his face. "Noooo, I don't wanna go." Toriel enterd the room and picked Asriel up. "Say goodbye to ____, it's time for you to go to bed. "But I wanna stay." Asriel kept whining as his voice became more and more strained by how tired he was. "C'mon now, the earlier you go to bed the earlier you can see ____ again." Toriel patted her cleary tired son on the back in an attempt to comfort him. He turned his head to look at you. "Goodnight ____, I'll see you tomorrow ok?" You nodded. "Yeah, see you tomorrow." He smiled softly. Toriel stopped as she reached the door and looked at you. "Good night ____." She left the room, Asriel waving at you, barely able to keep his arm up by how tired he was. Moments later your own tiredness began to settle in. You decided to go for a quick visit to the bathroom, brushing your theeth and changing into your pyjamas, going to bed soon after. Embraced by the warm comfort of your sheets, you reflected on what happened today. By chance and completly unintentionally you befriended the prince of monsters. Or rather, he befriended you. Asriel was a lot different from how you've immagined him. You expected a snotty, arrogant brat that would throw a tantrum the moment something didn't go his way. Instead he was just a child. Maybe a little straight forward, easily embarresed and sometimes a little oblivious to his surroundings but otherwise fun to be around. Chara on the other hand was giving you the creeps. Something about them struck you as off. You dismissed it as you imagination going wild and went to sleep.


	3. The invitation

The sound of the doorbell jolted you out of your dreams, a shout from downstairs following soon after. "____, come downstairs. There's someone that wants to see you. "It was your father calling you, that much you could comprehend right now. Who would come over this early in the morning and specificly ask for you however, was beyond you right now. Being directly awoken from deep sleep after a rather long day left your brain in a kinda mushy state were processing speed was slower than usual. With you muscles still half asleep, you tried to find the door out of your room, stepping on various toys and stuffed animals scatterd on the floor. Eventualy you found the door, mostly because you bumped right into it, and left into the hallway. You were still thinking about who could possibly ask to see you this early as you carefully walked down the stairs, hopeing that you wouldn't trip and fall. Sure, the stairs were covered by a soft rug but that doesn't change the fact that falling downstairs is still a rather painful experience you tried to avoid to the best of your abilities. Safely arriving downstairs you made your way trough the hallway and towards the door, still in a semi asleep state. Standing infront of the door, head still hanging low, you wiped the sleep out of your tired eyes. "Howdy ____." An all too familiar voice caused your eyes to widen and your head to shoot up, as every tiny bit of tiredness seemed to simply evaporate. 

"Errr... s- sorry if I woke you up." Simply starring at Asriel, you tried to make up an answer. "It's alright, I was already awake, I just didn't want to get out of bed this early." It was almost a miracle that Asriel seemed to believe you, considering how tired your voice sounded. "Why are you still wearing you pyjama then?" You fell silent for a moment, thinking of the next logical reason why you could wear a pyjama, except for sleeping. "Because it's comfy, isn't that obvious?" It was only after your answer you reallized the flaw in his logic. Asriel chuckled slightly. "So... do you want to come in, or are you just going to stay out in the cold?" You smiled as you invited him in. "I mean, it's not that cold outside" You laughted silently. "Just kidding, come in, make yourself at home." As you were about to go upstairs again, your father tapped your shoulder, bowing down to your height. "Ehmm ____, what is the prince doing here?" You shot a confused look at your father. "What, mom didn't tell you? Yesterday, we met at the waterfall I usually hang around. We had an rather awkward introduction, spent some time together and now we're friends." You gave your father a quick rundown on yesterdays events. "She did told me, but I wasn't really able to comprehend it. Working the nightshift at the MTT-Hotel is kinda exhausting you know." You nodded but quickly looked behind you as you heard Asriel call out for you. "Hey ____, is something wrong?" You shook your head, shooting a smile towards Asriel. "Nope, everything's alright." You caught up with him and walked upstairs together. 

Once there, Asriel's eyes fell upon the open door that lead to your still dark room. "I did wake you up, didn't I? I mean, the blinds are still shut so..." He began talking, sounding apologetic. "No, no, it's alright. Yeah, you did wake me up but I really don't need that much sleep anyway. Six hours and I'm fine." You quickly interjected, hopeing that it would somehow prevent him from feeling too bad, unfortunatly to no avail. "C'mon now. I said it's alright, there's nothing to feel bad about." You tried to sound as cheerful as possible. "I'm sure you didn't just come here only to leave a few minutes later." You kept up your smile as you looked into Asriel's eyes. "Well, there's one thing I wanted to talk about." He said meekly. "Come in then and take a seat, I'll take care of the blinds." Asriel simply nodded as he followed you into your room, sitting down on one of the various chairs around the table. As you opened the blinds and let the soft and cold light fill the room, a rather awkward feeling started creeping up on you. It was as if someone was starring at you. And there was only one person around that could possibly stare at you right now. "Errr... is there a reason as to why your starring at me like that?" Asriel began to stutter, muttering chopped words with little connection. "I'm... not... st- starring. Just... just..., w- why would I?" He tried making up an excuse, only to say something entirely different than he wanted. "I knew you'd look great without that cloak." Turning around in shock to his rather sudden compliment, you could feel your whole face heaten up, as it's color turned into a deep red. 

"You look kinda cute when you're blushing ____." He continued rambling. "C- cut it out Asriel!" Blurting out a response that came out much more hostile than it was supposed to, you turned your face away from him. For a moment there was silence, which was soon interrupted by Asriel's nervous coughts and giggles. "Did, did I really just said those things? It's not like I didn't meant them but still, this was rather unexpected. Sorry if I upset you or anything. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable really." He simply stared at the table as he continued. "I just didn't expect that you would look the way you do. Guess it just caught me offguard once the realisation settled in. You look a lot more humanoid than I expected, if you forget about your ears and tail. Don't get me wrong, it's not like they're-" "Cut it out" You simply cut him off. "You're acting like an Idiot." For yet another moment, there was silence. "Sorry for calling you an idiot, I didn't mean it." Asriel shook his head. "No, you're right. I was acting like an idiot." You took the seat opposite of Asriel. "Don't be so hard on yourself, you were just trying to be nice and I didn't really now how to handle it. Doesn't happen often that others say I'm cute or someting similar. I'm not mad at you or something like that." You gave Asriel a reassuring look. "Anyway, there was something you wanted to talk about right?" Asriel's head shot back up. "Oh yeah, there was." He stood up and seemed to search for something in his pockets. A smile indicated that he seemed to have found what he was looking for. He pulled out a nicely folded piece of paper and handed it to you. It said "to ____" on top of it, in barely readable letters. You quickly unfolded the fancy looking paper paper, reading the handwritten text inside. 

"You are invited to celebrate Prince Asriel's birthday at the great palace of the Dreemurr family on __.__.20__. Entertainment and food is ensured. With pleasant anticipation we look forwoard to your visit. If you happen to be unable to attent to our celebration, please contact us under the given number.  
Asriel Dreemurr."

The handwriting was extraordinarily fancy much unlike the signature, which looked just as wonky as the text that says to who this letter is adressed. You looked up at Asriel, who was smiling brightly. "The letter has a little secret, you now. Usually it would be in a really fancy envelope but I had to do some adjustments after I made a few arrangements with mom. The paper should be a little thicker under my signature." Hearing this confused you slighlty. Feeling the paper underneath the signature revealed that it was indeed thicker than the rest. You fumbled a bit with the paper soon removing another piece of paper that was weakly glued to it. It was somewhat of a continuation of the invation, the handwritting a little less terrible than the signature, as if whoever wrote it spend lots of time on it. It was evident that this part was written by Asriel himself. 

"If you want to you can bring your pyjamas with you. I know this is a weird way of saying, or rather writing this, but sometimes writing is much easier than talking. I'm basicly inviting you to a sleepover. Only if you want though."

Asriel didn't seemed to be comfortable with the silence, as he kept tapping his fingers on the table, humming a melody he picked up somwhere a while ago. He immediatly stopped when he realized that you were looking at him. "Soooo, what do you say?" He sounded inredibly nervous. "Sure, I'd love to. There are some problems though." His expression dropped aprubtly. "You see, bringing a pyjama to a birthdayparty is a little inconvenient if you're the only one staying for the night. Arriving in my pyjama would probably make others think im a sloth and putting it in a bag makes others think I bought an really big and expensive present." Asriel's gaze trailed away from you. "I didn't really think that one trough, did I? Should've known there would be somekind of trouble." You stood up from your chair and patted his shoulder. "It's alright, I already have a plan on how we can make this work. When you go back home just take one of my pyjamas with you and put it somewhere where you'll find it again." The formerly disapointed expression changed to one of amazemend. "____, you're a genius." You could feel your cheeks heat up again and quickly looked somewhere else. "D- don't mention it. It's much rather common sense you know." Your voice stuttered and nearly broke entirely as you tried to play off his compliment as if it was nothing. "If you say so." He seemed to pick up your nervousness, voice sounding almost like he's teasing you. "Anyway, I need to get going. There's still alot that needs to be done until my birthday. See you there." Asriel stood up, making his way towards the door. 

"WAIT!" You shouted. "You forgot something." Stopping at the door frame, he turned around. "Did I? Oh, yeah, the Pyjama." You rushed towards you closet and grabbed one of you pyjamas, yet something was still amiss. Should he just carry the pyjama all the way back to the palace? You knew that there's a place where water would constantly fall from the ceilling. Your pyjama would certanly get wet, not like that would be much of a problem since hotland was just a stones throw away. But it could get dirty from all the mud around the lakes. Also carrying a pyjama inside a bag would be much easier. You turned towards Asriel. "I think it's better to put it inside a bag, dont you think so?" Asriel nodded and you walked downstairs together. Once you arrived in the hallway you searched trough every drawer you could find, hopeing that a bag was hiding in one of them. Of course there wasn't a single trace of something that would even closely resemble a bag anywhere. You let out an frustrated sight. "Dad, where are the bags?" You shouted trough the hallway. "What do you need a bag for? Are you planning to go shopping?" Your dad shouted back. "No, Asriel invited me to a sleepover on his birthday and I thought it would be better if he would take one of my pyjamas with him so others would get any stupid ideas." You were still looking trough various drawers. "I can't remember agreeing to such a thing." Your dad was now standing in the hallway, shooting you a stern look. "C'mon dad. You and Mom always say I should go out and meet other people." You whined." By know you should know that I'm just pulling your leg. That's my duty as a father after all." His voice sounded rather content. "The bag?" At this point you voice started to sound rather annoyed from you fathers games. "Geez, dont be such a spoilsport. Just give a moment, I'll get one for you." Your father walked into the kitchen returning with a cup of coffee in his one and a bag in his other hand. "Thanks dad." You placed your pyjama in the bag and handed it over to Asriel. "There you go. I'll see you at your party then." You tilted you head slightly, smiling at him. "I'm looking forward to it." Asriel waved you goodbye as he left. 

You returned the gesture, waiting until he was out of sight before closing the door. Now you only need a present for him and you had no idea what would make for a, at least somewhat decent, present for a prince. You retreated to you room, trying to come up with a suitable present. Once inside you closed the door and looked around the room, hopeing something would cause a spark of creativity to come up. Unfortunatly said spark never appeared and you were left in the dark. You decided to take care of it later and proceed with your day as usual, after all Asriels birthday was still a week away. Spending your time playing video games, watching TV or drawing while having the TV as background noise made the remaining morning passed by rather quickly. You didn't realized just how much time passed until you heard your Mother calling from downstairs that she's home from work. Rushing downstairs to greet her you saw that she was wearing the necklace that your father gave to her as an anniversary present. That finally made an idea pop up in your head. A handcrafted necklace, woven from you magic. It would be tricky but certanly worth it. Your face curled into a bright smile, something your mother didn't oversee. "Did something happen? I've never seen you smile like that." Hearing your mothers voice jolted you out of your trance like state. "Asriel invited me to his birthday and a sleepover on that birthday. I couldn't come up with a present but seeing your necklace gave me the perfect idea." Your mother smiled back at you, seemingly happy that you accepted the invitation. "That's nice but don't you think that a necklace would be a little to expensive?" You shook your head, denying her statement in a joyful tune. "I never said I was going to buy one, I`ll just make one myself." As soon your mother heard that, her expression changed into one of pure disbelief. "You want to make a necklace. I don't think it as easy as you think it is." 

Her concerns fell of deaf ears as you were already on your way back upstairs. "HEY! Don't run off just like that." You didn't hear the last part, you were too busy coming up with a design for the necklace. Rushing back into your room, closing the door and sitting down at you drawing table you began with sketches on how the necklace was supposed to look like and took notes on what would should make this necklace unique. After hours of sketching, contemplating and lunch in between you settled with a star shaped necklace that looks like its made of glass and would shine in various different colours if held in light. Much like it was around the waterfalls, where colorful arcs would sometimes appear. You heard that these are called rainbows though you never quite understood how exactly these are created. The only thing you picked up had to do with the light of the crystals. You had the design and now it's time to let the magic happen, litteraly. Firts you need completly pure water, then you need to shape it and manipulate it in such a way that it would give the desired result. Then there's the fact that ice isn't only pretty cold it also melts quite easy. Once everything is taken care of, all thats left to do is to bead the star in the chain so one can actually wear it. And so you spent the next day creating desired necklace, failling numerous time being it because of the shape, the shine, or the nature of ice. But you didn't gave up and after days of fruitless attempts you finnaly managed to craft the desired necklace. A transparent star made of ice, shining in seven different colours if held right, that wasn't cold and would never melt. And you manage to do so just in time, Asriel's birthday was just around the corner.


	4. Birthday Shenanigans

You decided to get up early today, after all this day was a special one and you still had a few things to take care of. Like wraping up Asriel's present for example. After taking a shower and dressing properly you searched the house for a small box, and everything else required to nicely wrap up the gift. While you were turning the entire house upside down your mother did what she's best at. Sneaking up behind you and scaring the living daylights out of you. "Are you looking for somehing?" You nearly jumped out of your skin as you heard your mother, tripped and landed directly on your butt. While you were recovering from the first shock another one settled in. Did your butt crush the the necklace you worked so hard on? Panic began to arise as you scanned every corner of the room numerous times, only to come to the conclusion that the necklace was nowhere to be found. The fact that you felt like you were sitting on something didn't help the situation either. With a deafeated sight you looked underneath you, realizing that you weren't sitting on what you thought you were but much rather on the cable of the vacuum cleaner. It was only at that moment that you realized that the necklace was still in your room. "Everything alright?" Your mother's voice somewhat managed to comfort you. As you looked up to her you saw that she was holding something. A box with a plushie and everything necessary to wrap up your present for Asriel. "Since your idea with the necklace didn't seem to work out the way you wanted I decided go buy a little present instead. What do you think?" You jumped up, clapping your hands together. "You didn't need to buy a present but you know what they say. When life gives you lemons..." Before you finished your sentence, you snachted the various items from your mothers hands and ran back to you room. "HEY! What did I tell you about running of like that!" Your mothers complaints remained unheard once again.

Once inside your room, you closed the door and walked towards your table. You already had the perfect idea on how you wanted to present the necklace, now you just need to find said necklace. Another frustrated sight escaped your throat. Did it actually melt in the end or did you just lost it, if so where? And so began your search for the lost necklace. You took no prisoners and began to search trough every container in your room, emptying out the wardrobe, your box of toys and even the shelf with your videogames. Even after searching everything three times, the necklace still was nowhere to be found. As your last hope you looked inside the drawer of your bedsite table and there it was. You grabbed the necklace and put it around the plushies neck, smileing at the result. Just as you were about to put the whole thing inside the box, the door to your room opended. "____, is everything alright..." Your mother entered the room, concerend by all the noise you made. The moment she set foot in you room her expression droppend, baffeled by how you managed to turn a completly tidy room into an utter mess in the matter of seconds. "It's ok if your present didn't turned out the way you wanted to. After all it's the thought that counts right?" Your room might look like a warzone but right now your mother was more concerened about your wellbeing. In response you simply grabbed the plushie with the necklace and proudly presented it to your mother, whose jar dropped immediatly. "I... I cant believe it. You actually did it." She stared sobbing and your once proud expression turned to one of concern. "____, I'm so proud of you right now that I'm at complete loss for words. You did something that takes others years to learn within a few days. Does it actually shine the way it's supposed to?" You grabbed the star and tilted it slightly, demonstrating the colorful shine. "It's beautiful. I'm sure he'll love it. I really want to hug you right now but I'm afraid that I might break the necklace." You smiled at your mother and place the plushie on the table then lunging towards her with your arms wide open. 

For a moment the room was silent, except for the ticking of the clock. That was until your mother spoke up again. "I hate ruining this moment but I think you should wrap up the present and get going. You wouldn't want to be late, would you?" You nodded and returned to your table, finishing the whole wrapping process. Soon after you held the present, ready to be gifted, in you hands. The royal blue wrapping seperated into four tiles by a yellow ribbon. With both hands tightly holding onto the present you carefully began walking downstairs. "I'll be on my way mom!" "Enjoy yourself, see you tomorrow." You opened the door and were immediatly welcomed by snowdin's cold embrace, which never seemed to even slightly bother you. Walking the entire way to the castle would take way too long and you new that perfectly well. The only way to arive at the party on time was by taking the boat. That means you would talk to the mysterious and kind of creepy riverperson. You weren't afraid of him? Or are they a her? It didn't matter to you. You were just suprised that they acted completly different from what you expected them to. It didn't took to long until you arrived at the small pier where the riverperson and their boat were waiting for passengers. "Oh, hello there little one, do you need to go somewhere?" They asked in a singing tone. "Yes, I need to go hotland. I'm invited to a party and I'm already running a little late." You answered, slightly nervous. "Then I'll bring you there in no time. Take a seat." You nodded and stepped onto the boat, sitting down on the bench. As the riverperson stepped onto the front of the boat it suddenly seemed to float? Struck by disbelief you looked to your side only to see that the boat, for whatever reason, had grown legs. You decided to just accept the fact that the boat is now litteraly walking on water as you had more important things on your mind. The journey was rather eventless and apart from the sound of water rushing past you and the riverpersons cheerful humming, rather quiet. 

It took only about a minute until you arrived at hotlands pier. You said your thanks to the riverperson and rushed towards the elevator that would take you to the MTT-hotel. It seemed like luck was on your side today, as the elevator was already on your floor. Stepping inside and pressing the button for the third floor you watched the door close and waited. Luck seemed to have left you already as the elevator stopped on the next floor. The door opened a figure wearing heavy looking armor entered the elevator, even though they were hesitant at first. You assumed that they were part of the royal guard stationed around hotland. Trying to avoid staring, you kept your gaze locked on the floor and hoped for the best as you heard the sound of one of the elevators buttons being pushed. The elevator rumbled and moved up again, as the generic elevator music started to play. As both, music and rumbling stopped you looked upwards. 3rd floor was shown on the display, exactly where you wanted to go. The door opened and the figure stepped outside, you following seconds after. Now you only need to take the elevator at the hotel and the castle would almost be within sight. As you walked towards the hotel you noticed that the figure from earlier seemed to be on the same way as you were. You almost thought they were another party guest but dismissed that thought as soon as the figure entered the hotel's restaurant. After pressing the call button you waited and waited, groaned slightly in annoyance then waited a little more. This elevator seemed to be a especially long one. After what felt like an eternity of waiting the doors opened and you stepped inside. The doors closed and the elevator stared rumbling again, along with it a cheerfull birthday melody began to play for the entire ride. When the melody faded out and the doors opened, you started sprinting towards your destination.

You arrived at the castle, the huge ornated door standing wide open. The two guards infront of the castle's door looked at you and nodded when they saw the present you were holding. Hesitanly you walked into the castle, only to stop in your tracks once you entered the hallway. A crimson red rug streched itself along the ground. The brightly coloured walls were decorated with huge paintings of every member of the Dreemurr family in every combination possible. Countless vases of varying size, filled with flowers from around the underground were placed on the floor and on tables inside the hallway. You were in awe but were soon after taken back to reality by a familiar voice. "You really came! I'm so happy you could make it!" You turned around and saw Asriel running towards you at breakneck speed. You quickly placed your present on a nearby table and braced for what was coming. And you did so not to soon as only mere seconds after, Asriel jumped towards you, throwing his arms around you. Unable to keep your balance you fell on the rug. Asriel smiled brightly at you but his expression dropped as soon as he realised that his overexcitement has once again gotten the best of him and put you in a rather uncomfortable situation. "Errrm... sorry, I got a little too excited... again. Are you alright?" You nodded as he stood up and held out his hand to help you up. You grabbed it and Asriel pulled you back on your feet, his smile returning. "This way!" As he once again began dragging you off, you reached for the present on the table, grabbing just in the nick time. Running past more paintings and countless doors you could hear Asriel giggle. It was at that moment you saw that he was wearing a little, golden crown on his head. Asriel seemed to run even faster, if that was even possible at this point, as a set of open doors came into vision. "MOM, GUESS WHO JUST ARRIVED!" Asriel shouted, overjoyed by the fact that you came to his birthday. It almost felt as if one of his greatest wishes just got fullfilled.

He stopped once inside the room, almost causing you to stumble forward. Ballons were everywhere they could possibly be, streamers decorated the furniture and the entire scene was overviewed by a huge banner, which said "HAPPY BIRTHDAY". Everyone's gaze fell on you and Asriel, who seemed completly unfaced by his 'little' sprint. You on the other hand were trying your hardest to catch breath, proudly holding Asriel's present upwards. Even though you faced the ground with your hair obscureing your view, you still saw how Toriel approached you. She guided you towards the couch and handed you a glass of juice. "Here, you must be quite exhausted after such a long sprint." You simply nodded and emptied the glass in one go. As you placed the glass on the table infront of you, you realized that, except for his family, you were pretty much the only guest to Asriel's party. Not only were you surprised but also you kind of saddened by the fact that no one came to his birthday party. After a few more minutes of catching your breath you stood up again and showed Asriel his present. He gasped, eyes widening. "You even got me a present? Awww you know that wasn't necessary right? You came all the way from snowdin, thats present enough if you ask me." You shook your head. "I dont see what distance has to do with that. It's your birthday so I got you a present. C'mon open it." Asriel nodded and cut trough the ribbon, carefully removing the wrapping and lifting the lid off the box. He seemed to freeze as he saw the contents of the box and his silence began making you feel anxious. Did the necklace melt in the heat of hotland? Did it break while he was dragging you along with him? All you worries simply dissapeared as he lifted the plushie out of the box, the necklace still fully intact. "I... I don't know what to say. It's... it is... I love it!" He carefully remove the necklace fom the plushie and placed it around his neck. "Thank you so much." You let out a reliefed sight and smiled at him. "There's more to this necklace, you know." Asriel tilted his head in confusion. "Go ahead, grab the star and tilt it slightly." Without another word he did as you said. His jaw dropped even further as he saw colourful spectacle that emited from the star. "WOW! This must've been really, REALLY expensive." You shook your head. "It only cost me a lot of time. I made it all by myself you know." You proudly exclaimed. Asriel's eyes immediatly locked onto yours. "Y- you what? You actually made that yourself? I don't know what to say... again." He fell silent as he pulled you in for a hug, which you gladly returned. "Thank you soooo much. This is the best present ever." 

There was a comforatable momement of silence between you and Asriel, which was soon broken again. "Oh, now that you're here... TIME FOR PIE!" Asriel shouted cheerfully as he ran to the kitchen to which you simply sighed and folowed. He was already sitting infront of the table, patting the empty chair next to him as he looked at you. "Nope, NOT happening!" Chara stomped into the kitchen. "That's MY chair." Asriel crossed his arms, shaking his head. "But I WANT ____ sitting next to me." Chara stomped their feet again. "I ALWAYS sit next to you." "It's MY birthday. I AM the king for today and I WISH that he sits next to me." Asriel shouted back. "No wishes for you, you haven't even blown out your candles yet." Chara spat back. Asriel looked at the pie infront of him and quickly blew out the candles. "There!" He said, sticking his tounge out. "You already told everyone your wish. It won't become true now." Chara said mockingly. You simply sighed and sat down on the chair next to Asriel since there was nothing really stopping you from doing so. Asriel noticed and smiled at you, quickly shot a grimace towards Chara, then looked back at you again. "NOT FAIR!" Chara pouted as they turned away. "Now, now, there is no need to be upset." Asgore entered the room and placed another chair next to Asriel. "Now both of you can sit next to Asriel." Chara puffed up their cheeks and sat on the new chair. The pie infront of you look absolutely delicous. Without any further ado Asriel placed a rather big slice on your plate, smileing widely. "Remember when I told you about mom's butterscotch-cinnamon-pie?" You nodded. "Yeah, I do." "C'mon, try it." Asriel rushed you to finaly try the pie he seemed to love so much. You grabbed your fork, cut off a small piece and placed it in your mouth. As soon as it hit your tounge, a firework of complex tastes and aromas unleashed. The crust was almost cookie like in consistency while the pie itself was so soft you felt like you were chewing on a cloud. Your expression changed to one of pure bliss as if nothing mattered anymore. You've tasted heaven and could die happily now. No, if you were to die now you'd never get to taste the perfection that was this pie again. Also, Asriel. He'd defenitly be sad if you were to die right now and so would your parents. You should save dying for later, much, much later. "Look, his first reaction is just like Chara's." Asriel joked. "SHUT UP!" Chara promptly retored, still mad about the entire chair buisness. 

A few minutes after the pie was reduced to nothing more than a few crumbs, Asriel jumped out of his chair. "You're it." He poked your arm and, once again, ran off god knows where. You casually stood up from your chair, poked Chara's arm and made a run for it. They shouted something at you, then began running after you as fast as their legs could carry them. Instead of running you decided to switch to a more leisure pace, seeing that Chara was still far behind you. A short walk later and you found Asriel standing in a rather open place, sorrounded by golden flowers. He saw you and it seemed he was right about to take off again but stopped once he saw you slow down. "Is Chara it?" He asked, remaining at a safe distance from you. "Yeah. I think I lost them though." You responded, slowly walking towards Asriel. "Do you know what these flowers are called?" Asriel nodded. "They're buttercups. I heard that they were the first flowers growing here." He said as he sat down. You deided to simply sit down next to him. "So, how old are you now?" "Thirteen!" Asriel, proudly exclaimed. "Really? I'm thirteen too but your still younger than me." You said in a playful tune. "How? If I'm thirteen and you're thirteen. How can you be older than me?" He responed, slightly confused. "Because, I've been thirteen for longer than you." You kept up your playfull tune. There was a moment of silence before Asriel spoke up again. "Hey, where exactly did you lose Chara." You shrugged your shoulders. "I dunno but I think they should be here any moment now." The sound of footsteps came from down the hallway causing you to jump up, Asriel following suit soon after. "Here they come" You said as Chara emerged from the hallway. They were rushing towards you and attempted to tag you, which you dodged again and again. They got more and more frustated up to the point where they began to simply flail their arms around while you were almost dancing around them, evading each and every of their attempts to tag you. What you didn't realized was that they, at some point, reached behind them, tagging Asriel. He simply snuck up behind you and poked your back before he ran off with Chara. You took it as a challenge and began chasing after them, giving it all you got. As you kept up running along the various hallways, making sharp turns at every corner, you noticed one thing. Chara began slowing down, their movement turning sluggish as they seemed to loose their balance. But you didn't care. Even if you would tag them, they'd be too exhausted to keep up. No, you eyes were set on a different target. You'd keep up with Asriel, tag him then outrun him only to probably collapse somewhere later on. And it would be totally worth it. Mobilizing everything you had, you began approaching Asriel. He seemed to notice and turned his head towards you, slowly slowing down. At this moment, time began to slow down to a crawl. Asriel stopped running while you were still running at full speed. The little crown that once adorned his head flew across the hallway as you crashed into him, a startled bleat escaping his lips. Not only did the force of the impact knocked Asriel off his feet, it also send him flying for a good distance as you stumbled forward, arms flailing in vain as you desperatly tried to regain balance. Asriel landed almost flat on his back, while you landed face first next to him. 

"Are you alright?" Asriel asked concerned, as he turned you around. In responce you simply uttered an incoherent string of, what could have been words. You were seeing stars, or at least you think you do since you don't know what stars actually look like, but were otherwise uninjured. Asriel sighted in relief. "Maybe we should take it easy for the rest of the day." You simply nodded in agreement, slowly coming around. Asriel helped you up again and you followed him to his and Chara's shared room at a safe and moderate pace. It was either getting late, or all the running completly drained you, probably both, and you were starting to feel tired. The pleasant silence was eventualy broken when you reached the door that, presumably, let to Asriel's and Chara's shared room. Asriel turned to face you, a wide smile on his face. "Are you ready to see the coolest, the greatest and MOST awesome room in the ENTIRE underground?" You simply nodded, hyped by Asriel's announcement. "Drum roll please." Asriel was moving his fingers as if he was playing the drums before he flung open the door. "TATATA DAAA... ehm what?" He simply froze in place. The door did not lead to his shared room but instead to a broom closet. You had to admit, it was a pretty awesome broom closet but that's pretty much it. A broom closet. Nothing more, nothing less. Embarressed, Asriel began to awkwardly scratch the back of his head. "He he he, well this is awkward. Erm... This one!" Asriel bursts trough the door on the opposite and, lo and behold, it was his room. It was neat, not as great as he claimed to be but still quite neat. Just for todays occasion there was a TV placed infront of the rather spacious bed. "Ok maybe my room is not as great as yours but it's still pretty great right? What are you waiting for? Come in." Asriel ushered you in and began rummaging trough his closet, quickly pulling out the pyjama you gave him a week ago. "And here's your pyjama. We're going to watch Mettattons newest movie tonight." Asriel seemed to be quite fired up about tonights movie night. "Oh, I almost forgot. You get changed while I grab something real quick, ok?" And once again he ran off. You quickly changed into your pyjama and waited. A few minutes later Asriel returend, a huge bucket of popcorn in his left and the plushie from earlier in his right arm. "We can't watch a movie without popcorn and Mr. Snuggles right?" He shot you a sunny smile. "Mr. Snuggles?" You asked. "Yeah, Mr. Snuggles. That's his name." He presented you his new plushie and sat down next to you, placing Mr.Snuggles between you and himself. "Hey, where is Chara by the way?" You asked as he started the movie, puzzled by their sudden disappearance. "They insisted that they'll sleep in the guest room. I don't know why but I don't think they like you." Asriel answered, slightly dissapointed. "Chara's probably just a little shy." Asriel nodded. "Yeah, you're righ, that must be it." The night would have been filled with laugher, if you and Asriel hadn't fallen asleep ten minutes into the movie. The movie played while you were fast asleep. A few minutes later the door opened again and Toriel peered into the room, seeing you and Asriel snuggled up against each other. "Asgore, come quick and bring the camera." She whisper-yelled. Seconds later Asgore stood in the door, taking pictures of you and Asriel before he turned off the TV, leaving you to rest until morning.


	5. Days to come

You slowly began to wake up, drowsily rubbing the sleep out of your eyes as you processed your surroundings. The moment you realized Asriel was a little too close for comfort, you let out a scream, falling out of the bed. Asriel seemingly startled, let out a series of surprised noises and fell out of bed too. Both of you looked up from the sides of the bed, staring at each other before bursting into a fit of laugher. "Morning ____." "Morning Asriel." You greeted eachother. Asriel looked at the TV. "Guess we kinda fell asleep during the movie." Asriel chuckled slighty. The door opened and Toriel stepped into the room, the smell of fresh pancakes wafting in from behind her. "Good morning children." "Morning!" You and Asriel chimed in unision. "Breakfast is ready. I made pancakes." "PANCAKES!" You and Asriel threw your hands in the air and began rushing out of the room and towards the kitchen, Toriel following behind. Chara and Asgore were already sitting by the table, cutting pieces off their pancake towers. Asriel sat down on his usual spot and you sat next to him. Toriel joined and placed a rather generous amout of pancakes on your and Asriel's plates. You immediatly begin to dig into the pancakes infront of you, determined to make the tower infront of you fall using nothing more than your tools of food destruction. Asriel on the other hand was playing with the necklace you gave him, still amazed by it. "Seriously ____, how did you managed to make a necklace like that? I've never seen anything like it before." You emptied your mouth and smiled at Asriel. "You know that water freezes at low temperatures, right? After removing everything that isn't water I used my magic to alter the structures formed when water freezes so it would break and scatter the light the way it does." He looked at you with a rather carefree expression. "I have no idea what you just said." You shrugged in response. "Me neither, to be honest. I don't know how it works, it just does. I blame magic." You shared a good laugh and returned to your pancakes. Breakfast continued and the last pancake was devoured soon after. 

"So, what now?" Asriel asked rather bored. "I don't know about you but I'm going to change my clothes. Be right back." You returned to Asriel's room and changed back into your normal clothes. As you stepped outside again you saw that Asriel was already waiting for you. "I know what we can do. We can watch the movie from yesterday." He exclaimed in his usual exited manner. "Sounds like a plan to me." Asriel turned on the tv, started the movie and you began watching. It was about a great hero, obviously played by Mettatton, who embarked on an epic journey. The movie was filled with tons of humour and ridiculously over the top action scences full of explosions, epic special effects, whacky sound effects and one-liners. All in all the movie wasn't taking itself all that serious. You and Asriel were both rooting for the main character, laughing nearly-non stop and were generaly having a blast. As the movie ended and the credits were rolling, Toriel entered the room again. "____, your mother just called. It's time for you to go home." You were having a great time and didn't really want to go but you decided not to protest since you wanted to do something like this again. Asriel however, being the way he is, made his discontent vocal. "Can't he stay just a little longer? Please." "I'd love to but if mom said I have to go, I have to go. Unless I want to get grounded. But I can come over again tomorrow if it's ok with my parents." You reassured, which quickly raised Asriel's mood again. "Alright, see you tomorrow then. Maybe." You grabbed your pyjama and walked out of the castle but were stopped the moment you reached the castle gates. "____! WAIT!" Asriel was running after you. Either you or him must have forgotten something. He stopped infront of you and pulled out a sheet of paper, which he proudly held infront of you. "Here, I wanted to give this to you." You took the paper and looked at it. It was a drawing of you wearing your cloak while holding a scythe. Of course it had to be a scythe. With you cloak, everything else would've been just wrong. While everyone else would consider Asriel's picture to be nothing more that a simple child's drawing, you considered it to be the best drawing in the world. "Thanks. I love it." Asriel, quite pleased with himself, pulled out another drawing. This time it was a drawing of himself, black lines underneath his eyes, holding two swords as he was surrouned by a rainbow aura. He looked straight at you, ready to tell you absolutely everything about his drawings. "Remember that fantasy adventure thing we started working on about a week ago. I drew a character just for you." He stopped for a moment but didn't give you enough time to respond. Instead he pointed at the drawing of himself and continued "This is me, the god of absolute hyperdeath. I'm really, really strong with really, REALLY cool magic. You can be, you can be..." He stopped for a moment to think, raising and lowering his finger numerous times as if he came up with something only to change is mind again. "Don't worry Asriel, I'll come up with something." You said, snappping him out of his thoughts. "Really? Great. See you tommorow then." And with that he ran back. 

With a smile on your face, you tucked away Asriel's drawing and began your journey back home. As you reached the crossroad near the begging of hotland you contemplated whether to take boat or the long way trough the waterfalls. Seeing that your mother wanted you home, you decided to take the boat. You walked towards the pier where the riverperson was already waiting for passengers. "Hello again little one, do you want me to take you back to snowdin?" They asked, in their usual manner. "Yes please." You answered, to which they nodded in response. Once you sat down in the boat you immediatly began to think about what kind of magic you could use for your new character, apart from the magic you already use. Fire maybe? No, fire doesn't suit you. Lightning? No, that doesn't really fit either. Maybe, instead of elemental magic, you should use something else. Like illusion and trickery. That didn't sound too bad. The boat came to a halt the moment you settled for someting. You thanked the riverperson and walked the remaining distance to your home. Once there you pushed the doorbell and were soon after greeted by your mother. "Welcome home ____. Did you enjoy yourself?" You nodded. "Yep. I had tons of fun." Your mother smiled at you. "Then I'm sure you won't mind to clean up your room." You remember the state you left your room in and quickly realized that cleaning it would be everything but fun. "Fine." You groaned and returned to your room. Once you set foot in your room you realized that it looked far, far worse than you remember. Everything was scatterd across the floor. Rumpled clothes, paper and some of your toys made for some serious trip hazards, while pens and other toys, like building blocks, would be incredibly painful if stepped on. You were quite impressed by your ability to turn a perfectly clean room into a total mess, not that that's anything to be proud of. Before you started cleaning your room however, you taped Asriel's drawing on your wardrobe. 

It took the entirety of the remaing day, as well as lunch and dinner, to return your room to it's former glory. Once the last toy was put back to its place you visited the bathroom, going to bed immediatly after. Your sleep was uneasy, as if a dangerous storm was gathering. It took longer than usual but you fell asleep eventualy. Morning came and you awaken to the same uneasy feeling that kept you up last night, maybe your just hungry. You got out of bed and walked straight downstairs into the kitchen. Both of your parents were at work right now so you had to make your own breakfast. You settled for a something simple and grabbed everything you considered necessary to make a good sandwich. Minutes passed and your sandwich was gone as soon as it was done. It certainly seemed to have done trick since the uneasy feeling seemed to have vanished. Unsure about what to do you began pacing trough the kitchen. While you did had plans for today, going out was not an option until your mother comes back from work. You decided to put your time to good use and played trough that one game you picked up once only to forget about it again. More time passed as you immersed yourself in the vast fantasy world. That was until your mother returned from work. The second you heard your mother enter the house you stormed out of your room. That was the moment the unthinkable happened. You tripped and began your graceful flight downstairs. Not a single step hit you and while that might seem like a good thing, it also meant that the final impact would be all the more painful. In an almost instinctual motion you curled into a ball and roll down the hallway, almost nullifying the impact. You did end up crashing into the door though. Stunned by the impact you simply laid there, rubbing the back of your head. "Hi mom." You said, retaining your smile. "Are you alright?" Your mother was seriously concerned about your wellbeing after your little stunt and understandably so. She just watched you fly down the stairs. "Yeah, I'm alright." You said as you jumped back on your feet. "Hey, can I go over to Asriel later?" "You've taken quite the liking to him, haven't you?" She asked in a merry tone. "Of course I like him, he's my best friend after all. Well, he's also my only friend but my point stands." You responded. "Alright, you can go but only after you've eaten your lunch and be back before dark." A mixed expression spread across your face. You were happy you could go but wanted to go now and not after lunch. Lunch passed by rather quick and you were already on your way to the pier. It was still rather early, 1pm at best. You asked the riverperson to take you to hotland and jumped on their boat. While every previous journey with them was rather peaceful, this one not only seemed but also felt different. "Everything has been set in motion. It's only a matter of time now." Not only did what they said terrify you, it was also the way they said it that send a freezing cold shiver down your spine. What has been set in motion? What is going to happen? 

You arrived in hotland and began walking to the castle, all the while thinking about the riverperson's words. The castle's gates came into view and you pushed trough them, now standing in the vast hallways. "HELLO! Anyone home?" You shouted, waiting for a response. Steps echoed trough the hallways only seconds later and judging by their sound and speed they could only belong to one person. Asriel was running towards you and you were already bracing for impact. To your surprise he actually managed to stop infront of you. He was looking at you with that contagious smile you know him for. "____!" It always amazed you how someone could be this happy to see you. "Did you come up with something. You know, about the thing we talked about yesterday." You nodded. "Yeah, I did. Illusion and trickery." Asriel snapped his fingers. "That's it. Why didn't I think of that. It suits you perfectly." You scratched the back of your head. "I guess it does." "I have an Idea. Why don't we play hide and seek to see how good you are with your illusions and trickery. You're hiding." He didn't really give you a choice and began counting. Not only that, he also forgot to mention in which parts of the castle you were allowed to play and in which not, so you decided to hide in his room. You opened the door and were met with chara's dissaproving glare, in which you simply raised a finger to your lips in response before diving under Asriel's bed. Probably not the best hiding spot but a hiding spot none the less. Minutes later and Asriel entered the room, tiptoeing trough the room like a thief. "Hey Chara. ____ and I are playing hide and seek. Do you want to join us. You can help me search." You were pretty sure that's cheating. "Alright." Yep, defenitly cheating. Chara was approaching the bed you were hiding under, Asriel following them. You had one and ONLY one chance to escape and you were going to use it. As both of them lowered their heads to look under the bed, you crawled out from the foot end of the bed and snuck out of the room. To your surprise neither of them noticed your escape. 

You proceeded to the living room, where Toriel was reading a book. She seemed to notice you and greeted you with a smile. "Hello ____. I didn't notice you were here. Asriel should be around..." Once again you raised a finger to your lips. "We're playing hide and seek." You whispered as you were looking for a hiding spot. Behind the couch was the only place that might provide decend cover. You jumped behind it nad not a second too early. Chara and Asriel arrived only moments after. "Mom, have you seen ____?" Asriel asked. If that's not cheating then you don't know what is. Toriel looked up from her book and adjusted her glasses. "____? I didn't realize he's here." Asriel sighed and began looking trough the living room while Chara guarded the door. You were in dire need of a plan. No, this wasn't the time to think. Improvisation was the key to success, at least in this scenario. You focused your magic and created a small sphere of water wich you aimed at Chara. Staying classy you threw it in hopes it would hit their pants. They were dumbstruck when they realized that something had hit their pants, drenching them in the process. "What the... What just happened?!" They stomped off, propably to change their clothes. Maybe that was a little mean from you, maybe you were taking this too serious again, maybe Chara should realize that you don't take prisoners. You'd probably get in trouble for this later. At least it gave you the oppening you needed. You took the opportunity and ran out of the living room. "HEY! FOUND YOU ____! Asriel shouted from behind you as he started chasing after you. This is it, it's the moment that would decide everything. If he catches you it's game over, if you outrun him and manage to hide again you'd win. You ran as if the grim reaper himself was chasing after your very soul. Unfortunatly your escape was cut short when Chara jumped out of their room, tackling you to the ground. 

That's it, you're done for. Something about them was wrong. Something was gleaming in their eyes and it gave you the heebie-jeebies. "It's over ____." Asriel's voice sounded like sweet salvation. This wasn't your end, you'd get to live for another day. "Is everything alright?" He was concerned by your terrified expression. "Don't worry Azzy, he's just a little surprised because I sacred the living daylights out of him." Chara answered for you. You simply nodded and stood up. There was an awkardly long moment of silence until Asriel spoke up again. "Hey ____, can I show you something." "Sure." You answered hastily. He seemed happy at your response. "Follow me." You nodded and followed Asriel. He was leading you somewhere walking trough long abbonded parts of the castle, where spiders have taken over and the air was stagnant. He led you further and further into the castle, leading you up some sort of tower. Once you reached the top he stopped infront of a closed door. He looked at you again. "Are you ready?" "I guess." You responed, unsure what was about to happen. Asriel looked at the floor for a moment before he opened the door. You were ontop of the castles highest tower where the entirety of the underground spread out infront of you. The sight was breathtaking, not only because it was simply amazing but also because you weren't all that good with hights. Asriel simply stood there, his gaze wandering over the scenery. He took a deep breath and spoke up again. "It's amazing, isn't it." You simply nodded as he turned towards you. "To think that, one day, I'm going to rule over all of this." He took another deep breath. "It terrifies me. Dad is doing a great job as king and I don't know whether I'll be able to rule over everyone like he does. I'm not strong, I'm not brave, I'm just... I'd probably be more of a queen than a king, if at all. I'm just a wimpy crybaby." He began to sob as he poured his heart out to you. You didn't know what to do, how to respond, so you simply hugged him. "Don't worry, you'll do a great job once your king. I know you will. And if all else fails, you still got me right. I'll be there to help you whenever you need me. That's what friends are there for, right?" You spoke quitely, in hopes it would comfort him "So you're saying that you'll help me rule the underground?" He asked disheartened. "If I have to, sure. I'll be there for you until the very end." You answered encouragingly. "Thank you." His voice was almost a whisper as he sobbed again. You didn't know how much time you spend up on the tower but by the time you were on your way home it was getting dark. Once you arrived home and recieved your scoldind for coming home so late, you went to bed. That night you didn't get any sleep. Not only were todays events a little too much, you also had a feeling of impending doom. You were tempted to smack your head against to wall just to get some shut-eye but that would probably do more harm than good. You didn't know when or for how long, but eventualy you fell asleep.


	6. On repeat

You awaken from your short and nighthmareish slumber, feeling more terrible and more tired than when you went to bed. Whatever kept you up at night must have repeatedly snuck into your dreams, filling them with distorted vision of disturbing nature. Lonelily floating trough the vast blackness of the infinte void, it scared you, mortally terrified you even. You crawled out of your bed, seeing no point in further wasting any more time trying to get some rest, only to end up in a world of nighthmares. Sluggishly you moved out of your room and downstairs to the kitchen. "Morning ____." Your mother greeted you, her expression dropping the moment she actually looked at you. "Oh my, are you alright? You look terrible." As a first response you simply groaned. "Nightmares..." You flinched slightly as your mother placed her hand on your shoulder. "Do you want to talk about it." Another series of groanes escaped your mouth. "Would love to... but dunno what about." It was true. You didn't understood what happened in that nightmare, what it meant. All you knew was that you were completly alone somewhere, where you heard nothing but the beating of your heart and the blood rushing trough your veins. There were no colours, no warmth, no light. Only cold, empty darkness. You dropped into a nearby chair, struggling to keep your eyes open and your head up. There was something edible on the table and it smelled as if you mother just cooked it up. Your mother placed something of what she cooked up and you began moving your hand around your plate's vicinity in hopes of finding a spoon or a fork. At some point you must have dozed off for a second and your head dropped onto the plate infront of you. Bacon and scrambled eggs, that's what your mom made for breakfast. "Are you sure you're alright?" You lifted your head up, still struggling to keep your eyes open as bits of food fell off your face. "Never said I am." Your mother watched as you ate what was left on your plate, clueless as to how she can help you. Maybe you were only having a bad day and she doesn't need to. 

Once your plate was empty you walked, or rather crawled, upstairs to freshen up. A cold shower should help you wake up. While Snowdin's cold never really bothered you, cold water did. Maybe you went a little overboard though, seeing that you nearly shrieked out under the cold water. Look at the bright side. At least your awake now, you were still feeling pretty terrible though. Perhaps videogames could cheer you up. So you continued playing that game from earlier, hoping it would cause time to pass quicker. After playing for, what felt like, several hours, you checked the clock. Roughly one hour passed, much less time than you thought at first. On top of that you were still feeling pretty lousy. You let your eyes wander across the room, focusing on Asriel's drawing. Drawing, that should be able to take your mind off... or maybe not. After sitting there for half an hour you still had neither inspiration nor inclination to draw anything. So you sat there, feeling terrible, bored and slightly frustrated. More time passed and you came up with something else. Asriel, he should defenitly be able to cheer you up. It's impossible to be in a bad mood around him. You walked downstairs again. "Mom, I'm going to see Asriel." "Alright but be back before dark this time, got it." While your destination was clear, your way wasn't. After what happened yesterday you were just a little too scared to take the boat. So you embarked on your journey trough the underground. A few minutes in and you stumbled upon your first, and only, obstacle. There was a gap in the ground, an ankledeep stream flowing underneath it. You took a running start and dramaticly jumped over it even though you could have simply stepped over it. The journey continued and hotland was already in sight. You proceeded to the elevator and pressed the call button. Minutes later and you were on your way to the MTT-Hotel. The last few meters to the castle felt eternally long and an undiscrible feeling krept up on you. The castle gates came into sight and you were tempted to just turn around and go home again and yet you continued, almost subconsciously.

Before you realized it you were standing infront of the giant doors, the two stationed guards looking at you. "You must be ____ if I'm not mistaken, correct?" One of them spoke. You nodded, a feeling of dread settling in. "Follow me." Did you do something wrong? Are you in trouble? You had no idea what was going on as you followed the guard. The further you were lead into the castle the more you started to feel like there was a knot in your stomach. It was almost as if something unspeakably terrible happened and now there's a huge, dark cloud looming over the castle. By the time the guard stopped this feeling of somberness turned into heart-wrenching sorrow and you had no idea why. "Your majesty, ____ has arrived." They spoke in a stern voice as they firmly knocked at the door to the living room. "Send him in." A voice, presumebly Toriel, came from behind the door. "You heard her." The guard gave you stern look before returning to his post. Just what happened. Why was everyone acting so different from what they used to and even more important. Where is Asriel? Usualy he would be the first to greet you. Maybe he's with his parents. You entered the living room and were quite unsettled by what you saw. Asgore and Toriel sat there, both of them clearly distraught. You simply stood there unsure what to do. An awkard, deathly silence hung over the room. After what felt like an eternity and a half you finaly spoke up in a nervous voice. "Where is Asriel?" "Asriel is... gone." Toriel responded, sobbing. "Where did he go?" You were either blissfully unaware of the current situation or you simply haven't understood what was going on. "Asriel is..." Toriel took a deep breath, sobbing a few times. "Dead." The moment Toriels words left her mouth, every expression dropped from your face. It felt as if you were coming to an abrupt halt after an endlessly long fall, as if your world was collapsing and nothing could stop it. You couldn't comprehend the thoughts and feelings that rushed trough you mind and body as you began to feel weak, almost at the verge of collaps. Feeling hollow, you returned home. Not a single word was spoken, not a single look exchanged, not a single thought thought. 

Once you arrived home you rang the door bell. Your mother was clearly surprised by how soon you returned. "____, is everything alright?" She was concerned but you simply walked past her, upstairs and towards your room. You locked the door behind you and sat down on your bed, legs pulled up to your face. Motionless, almost as if frozen, you sat there trying to wrap your head around what you've been told. Asriel is dead and right now nobody knows exactly why. Hours later, by the time the lights have long faded, you fully realized just what all of that meant. Asriel, your best and only friend was gone and you would never see him again. You didn't care about what happened to Chara. In fact, you blamed them for what happened. That night neither you nor your parents got any sleep. Moring came and you sat still sat on your bed in a nearly catatonic state. The door to your room opened and your mother entered the room. She sat down next to. It was as if she wanted to say something but could find the right words to say. She called you by your name, poked your arm, did anything that might get a reaction out of you. But you didn't answer, didn't move, didn't show any sign of being present. Your mother left again, she couldn't handle seeing you like that. Morning passed and you eventualy got out of bed and walked downstairs. Your parents, although reluctant about it, went to work leaving you home alone. Besides eating and drinking something you didn't do much. Back in your room, you simply stared at Asriel's drawing. It was everything you could remembery him by. The only physical reminder of him. You felt like crying again, you wanted to, but the rivers have long run dry. The following days were though but somehow you pulled trough, slowly but steadily returning to who you are. About two weeks passed since Asriel's death and you were on your way to the castle, a bouquet of flowers in your hands. You made the choice to remember Asriel by all means necessary. The castle was within sight and memories, as fresh as they may be, bubbled up. You spend a moment in silence so you can compose yourself again. The castle stood there in all of its splendor, the halls stil vastly decorated. Passing trough familiar looking halways you reached your goal. The throne room, where a memorial was placed where his remains were found. You placed the bouquet infront of it and stood there in silence. 

It became some sort of a tradition to you. Once a week you'd go and place a bouquet of flowers on Asriel's memorial, remain there in silence for a few minutes and then return home, never uttering a single word. Weeks passed and another shock hit the underground. Toriel seemed to have dissapeared and nobody has seen a trace of her ever since. You were, once again, on your way to Asriel's memorial, passing trough the various familiar sceneries. Something felt odd however. A deathly silence lingered all over the underground, almost as if everyone dissapeared all of the sudden. Even the music that usually played at the MTT-Hotel remained silent. You simply continued on, not bothering to think about the reasons behind the silence. After a long elevator ride and a short walk you arrived at your destination. As per usual you placed the bouquet of flowers and remained still. Roughly ten minutes later you turned around again, ready to walk back home. After the first few step you stopped, feeling like someone just called your name. You shrugged it off and kept walking only to stop again. "____!" Someone was defenitly calling you but you had no idea from where. "____, down here." You looked down to your feet and, to your surprise, were met with a talking flower. "Do I know you?" The flower nodded. "Of course you do. It's me Asriel." You could feel your face srunch up with enough fury to make hell look like a relaxing holiday resort. "Don't you dare use that name. Asriel is dead." If looks could kill that flower would have probably been smeared across the fabric of the multiverse. "____, I promise you. It's me. I don't know how or why but for some reason I'm a flower now." Now this flower even had the gall to speak in Asriel's voice. You kept walking, ignoring the talking weed. Unfortunately it seemed to follow you, appearing in front of you with it's biggest offence yet. It now seemed as if it was wearing Asriel's face. You could feel and unhealthy twitch in you face and were right about to uproot the little pest so you can give it a taste of you magic. But there was something stopping you from doing so, you simply couldn't do it. You looked at the flower and sighed in defeat. "Alright, what do you want 'Asriel'?" "I don't know. Ever since I woke up like this I haven't felt a thing. At first I thought that, maybe mom or dad can help but they couldn't. Then I thought maybe you can..." The flower stopped talking and you didn't like it one bit. You could feel how death was running it's cold fingers down you neck as the flowers expression turned into a hideously distorted smile. That flower is defenitly going to give you nightmares, if you make it out alive. You took of with a mad dash, running for dear life. 

The vile demon, that was this flower, shouted something after you, something about there beeing no point in running away, that everyone is already dead. You simply kept running, nearly collapsing halfway trough hotland. There was a secluded and well hidden spot somwhere in the waterfalls wich you used to hide, even if only for a moment, so you can catch your breath. Only a few minutes later and the flower appeared in front of you again, cutting your pause short. You jumped up, and continued your escape with what little strengh was remaining. Once again the flower was saying something, something you didn't hear, as it began throwing pellet shaped bullets at you. You dodged to the best of you abilities which were significantly impaired due to your exhaustion. With the waterfalls behind you, you ran trough snowdin, desperatly clingig to the hope that snowdin's cold climate would put an end to the murderous flower. Of course it didn't and you were still nowhere near safe. So you continued running away from the flower, dodging whatever it threw at you. You reached the woods surrounding snowdin and, because your day wasn't terrible enough already, slipped on a frozen lake, only narrowly escaping a cold death. As you continued you saw that you were rapidly approaching a dead end. On top of that you were also hit by one of the various bullets that were flung at you. An unbearable, seering pain shot trough you arm, spreading trough your entire body, nearly causing you to fall over. You barely managed to keep yourself up and in the end collapsed once you reached the giant wall of solid stone. The entrance to the ruins of the old capital was right infront of you but there was no way for you to open it. You began to desperatly knock at the door, throwing you fists against it with what little strengh you had left inside you. Something wrapped itself around your arms and your desperate struggle ceased. You looked at the flower infront of you, a mixture of fear, sorrow and helplesness on your face, as you wanted to ask the one question that was on your mind. That one word you were to weak to utter. A sickening grin spread across the flowers distorted face as numerous pellets formed around you. "Good night, my sweet prince." As if only to mock you in your last moments, he spoke those last words in Asriel's voice.

You awaken from you short and nightmareish slumber, feeling a rush of déjà-vu. That dream, no that nightmare, just what was it about. What little you could remember felt too real to be a simple dream. You dragged yourself off your bed and walked downstairs towards the kitchen. "Morning ____." Your mother greeted you. "Morning mom." Bacon and scrambled eggs were placed on the table infront of you and another rush of déjà-vu overcame you. Everything seemed a little too familiar for your liking. After breakfast you decided to play videogames and returned to your room. You booted up the game and started playing. For whatever reason you knew exactly where to go, how to solve the puzzles and how to fight the next boss. Even the cutscenes seemed familiar. All the while there was this feeling as if you had already been trough everything you are going trough right now. That dream you had, you simlpy couldn't get it out of your head. You had a lot of weird dreams but not one was as weird as the last one you had. It was almost as if you had forseen the future. For a second you were lost in though, quickly snapping out of it again once you realised what that meant. If you really did see the future, that would mean that Asriel is. You stormed out of you room and ran downstairs. "I'm going to see Asriel, I'll be back before dark, promise." You shouted into the hallways and ran out of your house. The closer you got to the castle the more you began to feel uncomfortable. It was exactly as it was in your dream and that could mean only one thing. You were escorted to the living room by a guard, you were told that Asriel was dead and you returned to home, just as heartbroken as you were in you dream. A few weeks later Toriel dissapeared and you were on your way to place a bouquet of flowers on Asriel memorial. The familiar, dreadful silence filled the underground and you dreaded what would happen next. Once you placed the flowers where you usually would you waited. As soon as you heard somone call your name you responed. "What do you want?" A flower with an innocent looking face appeared in front of you. "____, it's me..." "No, it's not. You are NOT Asriel." You cut him off. A malign grin spread acorss the flowers visage. "So you remember." You shook your head. "Remember what? I'm standing in front of my best friends memorial and some weird talking weed pops out of the ground claiming to be someone I know. It doesn't take a genius to know who you're going to claim to be." "Sharp as always, just as I know my prince." Just like in your dream, that flower reffered to you as 'his prince'. And just like it your dream it was using Asriel's voice. Once again you could feel how your blood began to boil. 

Caught up in your rage you prepared yourself for battle. The flower shot you a wide grin. "Finaly something new. Do you have any idea how often we've been here?" You took a few steps back, surprised by that you were told. "We've been here before?" "So you don't remember. You usually either run away or simply accept your fate. We've been here more time than I care to count. Doesn't matter anyway, you're going to die, again and again and again." No, not this time. You immediatly launched a barrage of icicles towards the talking weed, which it simply doged by dissapearing into the ground. You kept up your attacks, stricking whenever that flower decided to show up, missing each and every time. "Is that seriously all you got. What about the illusion, the trickery?" It spoke in a mocking voice. "How do you know about that!" You yelled back. "Did you seriously forgot already? Maybe your not so sharp afterall." The flower dissapeard once again, reappearing with the amulet you gave Asriel. You wanted to say something but the words got stuck in your throat. "It's beautiful, isn't it." He tilted the star slightly. "All this colours. It would be a shame if..." You could only watch as he launched a pellet at the star, shattering it into more pieces than anyone could count. Your vision turned red from rage and you began to blindly attack the flower with everyting you had, completly disregarding your defence. In a single moment of carelessness you felt that same seering pain you felt in your dream and dropped on the ground. "Boring, just as I expected." The flower was now looming above you, countless pellets forming around you. "Sleep tigh, my sweet prince. You've earned it." Again, he spoke in Asriel's voice and again you vision faded to black and once again you wake up in your bed. You felt like crying, these nightmares were getting worse by the day. The coming days passed exactly as you expected. Bacon and scrambled eggs for breakfast, Asriel died, TOriel dissapeared and you kept bringing flowers to Asriel's memorial. This time however, you didn't encounter that murderous flower. Does that mean the nightmares are over? You still had countless question. Were those dream really dreams? Who is that flower and why does it seem to know you. Why does he call you 'his prince'? Everyting left you confused. More days passed and eventualy turned into weeks, soon after into months, then years. More humans fell and dissapeared soon after. Now, five years later and you still kept up your tradition of brining flowers to Asriel's memorial. It seemed as if the worst has passed, or maybe it's just the calm before the storm.


	7. The fallen child

You were on your way home from your part time job. Whenever you had the time you helped out at the local store, either by working behind the register, restocking various items or by simply cleaning up the place. The pay was ok and it gave you something to do. As you passed trough the village square you overheard various monster chatting. Word around town was that a human was sighted outside of snowdin and they were now on their way here. You already picked up on it while you were working and while everyone seemed to be curious at the very least, you were nowhere near as thrilled. They would probably just dissapear like the rest. You arrived home and unlocked the door, stepping inside it's welcoming warmth. Like always, your parents were at work, not that that made any difference. Feeling a little peckish, you decided to make lunch in the kitchen. Roughly an hour later and you were sitting in your room again, watching reruns of shows, cartoons, anime and what not. Your room hasn't changed all that much. While you did upgrade your various pieces of furniture to something more modern, they still sat at the exact same places as the old ones did. And of course you carefully removed the pictures on your old wardrobe and taped them on your new one. Except for Asriel's. You made sure to preserve it as best and possible and it was now sitting, sealed and framed, on your bedside table. Looking at his drawing reminded you that it was that time of the week again. You got off your bed and walked outside again, locking the door behind you. After picking a few flowers from the garden you began walking towards the castle. As you approached the entrance to the waterfalls you could feel someone tuck on your sleeve. When you turned around you were met with the face of a human, that looked surprisingly familiar, looking up towards you. "Can I help you?" You tried to sound as neutral as possible. They motioned towards the bouquet you were holding. "That bouquet? That's none of your buisness. Now, if you excuse me." You turned around and continued on your way. Maybe that was a little rude of you but you didn't feel like beeing around them for longer than necessary. Something about that child seemed off.

After a few minutes of walking you passed the small row of houses you usually walk past. One of them had their backyard open to the public, a banner advertising snail racing was stretched between two poles. Maybe you'd check it out someday, maybe even on your way back. You were about to enter hotland when you were stopped by unmistakable shout. "Hey punk. Have ya seen a human around here?" Undyne, captain of the royal guard stood infront of you, eager to pulverize a probably innocent human. "As a matter of fact, I did. They should be somewhere around the waterfalls. On the other end I assume." You response was rather plain. "Why didn't you capture them like you were supposed to?" Undyne sounded slightly iritaded. "Like I'm supposed to? Did I miss a memo or something? I'm not a part of the royal guard nor do I have any qualms with humans as a whole. I know what they did and I know what THEY did. I'm not going to judge an entire species because of some bad apples. If that human had attacked me however, I'd have defended myself." Undyne seemed both, somewhat satisfied and somewhat iritated by your reponse. "Now, I'm sure we both have more important things to attend to. Have a nice day." You turned around and walked away. Once you reached the first elevator you pressed the call button, that made a weird sound upon beeing pushed, and waited. Once the elevator door opened you stepped inside and picked the topmost floor. A flashing symbol indicated that the call button on the lowest floor was malfunctioning. You blamed the maintenance crew for not doing their job properly. As you reached the MTT-Resort, formerly known as the MTT-Hotel, you were approached by the embodiement of narcissism itslef, Mettaton. "Oh darling..." "No, just no. I have better things to do." You cut him off before he could get another word out and entered the elevator to the castle. The castle has changed, a lot. The formerly long and stretching hallways have been cut off, reducing the amount of rooms drasticly. The living room and kitchen have been reloacted and the castle had now no more than six rooms, not counting the throne room.

You arrived at the throne room where Asgore was tending to the flowers. He seemed to notice you and turned around to face you. "Hello ____." "Hello." You greeted back as you placed the flowers on the memorial. "I see you're keeping up your traditions." Asgore said. "Of course I do. I can't allow myself to forget Asriel. Even if the time we spent together was short, it still was the best time in my life." Asgore remained silent at your response. For the next few minutes there was nothing but silence. Just as you were about to leave Asgore spoke up again. "____, I think there's something I should tell you." You turned around, a hint of surprise on your face. "What is it?" "It's about Asriel and what happened after his passing." He motioned you to follow him. "Would you like a cup of tea?" You shook your head. "No thanks." Asgore led you to the living room, sitting down on the sofa. "Please, have a seat." You sat down on a chair opposite of him. "Now, what I wanted to tell you." Asgore took a deep breath and began his story. "First off, Asriel was most likely killed by humans. I found an old tape where Asriel and Chara were talking about a plan to free all monster." You knew Chara had their fingers in what happend five years ago. You also know about the differences between human and monster souls and how they interact with each other. Something however, struck you as off. "What was Chara like? If you don't mind me asking." You asked, trying to get more informations. "I'm not going to lie. They were a difficult child. No one really knows why, but they hated humanity for some reason. Asriel was crying more often than not because of Chara. They caused a lot of trouble and one day they almost accidently killed me." Your suspicions began to take form. "Would you say they were abusive or that they had some sort of ulterior motive?" Asgore almost seemed offended that you'd think something like that. "What are you trying to say...wait..." He fell silent for a moment." He fell silent for a moment, as if something he remembered caused him to make a grim realization. 

After a short moment he snapped back up again. "Let's keep this for later alright? Now where was I." He paused for another moment, trying to find the point where the conversation trailed off. "Now, after their plan failed I've sworn to myself and everyone that lives here that, once I've collected enough souls, I would free all of us. Toriel and I argued for several days about how I should do something like that. I insisted that we would use the souls of humans that would fall down here. Toriel disagreed with me. She said that, if I really want to take vengance, I should use one soul to pass the barrier and collect the remaining souls on the surface. She didn't understand that that mindset was exactly what got Asriel and Chara killed. One human soul isn't enough to surive an onslought of humans." He paused for a moment to emphasize his point. "So we kept arguing and one day, she simply left." Slowly things were taking shape and you felt genuiely sorry for Asgore. "I couldn't stand loosing everyone I love so I did something, something that would hopefully fix this broken mess." He paused and took a deep breath. "I tried to bring back Asriel." You were quite shocked by what he said. "And how exactly did you tried to pull it off. I mean, I would love to see him again but I don't believe bringing back the dead is possible." Asgore looked at you, a glint of regret clearly in his eyes. "Well, we were more or less successful. I took Asriel's remains aswell as the flowers they were spread on and handed them to Dr. Alphys. She was running a series of trials involving liquid determination." "Hold on." You interjected. "I thought determination was a state of mind. How is it possible to extract an emotion from someone?" Asgore averted his gaze, seemingly disgusted with himself. "Explaining this would go beyond the scope of this discussion, but I can assure you, it is possible. After a long series of trial and error experiments Alphys finaly found a way that wouldn't end with severe side effects. I don't know what happened afterwards. Her last report was supposed to arrive here more than four and a half years ago. I can only assume she abandoned the project due to ethic and moral reasons."

All of this was a little too heavy. Asgore tried everything in his might, even entering an ethical and moral gray area, but couldn't do anyting in the end. "I'm sorry ____, I shouldn't have kept you for so long. Have a safe trip home, and say hello to your parent for me." You bid goodbye to Asgore and left. As you walked home in the ever darkening light you passed the human from earlier again. Something about them seemed severly off, even more than before. They stopped and raised their hands, almost as if they were about to enter a fight. You simply shrugged. "I don't have time for this." With a rather rude reponse, you simply walked past them. At first you wanted to use the elevator but it seemed to be malfunctioning. You once again blame the maintenance crew. That meant that you had the immense pleasure of taking the long route trough the core. With an annoyed sight you continued your, now prolonged, journey. As you passed trough, what you know as, the hall of judgement, you couldn't help but fell as if someone was watching you, silently judging you. You shrugged it off and kept walking. On your way trough the core you passed a suspicously familiar looking pile of scrap metal. You were growing more and more suspicous of the human. Once you passed the core you arrived infront of a cave. It was inhabited by countless spiders and while you weren't really afraid of them, beeing surrounded by hundreds of them did make you feel uncomfortable. You set foot inside the cave and, to your surpirse, found it to be complety empty. Maybe the human just really hates spiders. The monsters that you passed on your way home, seemed totaly fine. Roughly halfway trough the spider cave you saw an empty stand. You remember that there was a sale for various goods made by spiders going on in the underground and assumed that this would be their headquarters. A look on the price tags revealed that the prices here were ludicrous. You shrugged it off and continued on your way. 

Eventualy you reached dr. Alphys laboratory. There was no way arround it, so you had to pass trough. It almost seemed as if no one was home, almost. The lights were off except for the flickering tv screen on the other side of the room. A figure was sitting infront of it, watching whatever they were watching. Not wanting to bother them you decided to sneak past them. While you were tiptoeing trough the room the tv caught your attention. It seemed to show the human you met earlier, searching trough a familiar looking room. The figure, which upon closer inspection turned out to be dr. Alphys, noticed you and nearly jumped out of her skin. You threw your hands up. "Don't mind me, I'm just passing trough." While Alphys was recovering from her shock, you simply ran out of the lab and towards the waterfalls. The moment you left the Laboratory, the tv showed how the human picked up something that was never meant to be in their hands. Once you reached the transition zone between hotland and the waterfalls you decided to take a break so you can catch your breath. You were almost home. Just past the houses and over the gap and Snowdin would be within arms reach. While you were on your way you passed a pile of dust, an eypatch lying on top of it. The human, they must have done this. and if even Undyne can't stand against them, then maybe you should stay clear of them. You should defenitly keep your guard up however. A cold breeze was wafting in from ahead, signaling that snowdin was only a few steps away. With the waterfalls left behind you, you walked towards snowdin. The snow was glistering underneath what remaining light illuminated the underground. It was a calm night, just as always and yet something seemed severly amiss. Only a few meters in front of the entrance to the waterfalls sat another pile of dust. An orange scarf rested on top of it. You were fairly neutral towards the skeleton brothers. Sure, they can be a little annoying sometimes but they try to be good neighbours. Why someone would try to kill them was beyond you. It could have only been that human. At this point you were sure that, should you ever cross paths with them again, you had to dispatch them. For the good of everyone that lives in the underground. Once you arrived home you made double sure to lock the door. Your parents were still working, which worried you slightly. The human was still out there and they seemed to on a whim. It was getting late and you had to get up early tommorow, so you decided to visit the bathroom and go straight to bed afterwards.

You got out of bed, feeling refreshed and well rested. After a quick shower and getting dressed properly, you walked downstairs. The smell of fresh pancakes filled the air. Slightly confused you entered the kitchen. "Morning ____." Your mother greeted you as she placed a generous pile of pancakes on the table. "Morning mom. Didn't you make pancakes for breakfast yesterday?" "I'm pretty sure we had omlette for breakfast yesterday." Your mother answered, confused as to why you'd think otherwise. You shrugged it off and enjoyed a fair amount of pancakes before departing for your partime job. It was basicly around the corner. The small shop near the entrance of Snowdin offered a little bit of everything. As you stepped inside you were greeted by the smell of freshly baked cinnamon buns. "Morning." The owner shouted from behind the counter. "Morning." You greeted back. "So, how can I help today." "You can start by getting the cinnamon buns out of the oven and putting them in the basket. We also got new gloves for sale. If you could find a nice spot to dislpay them, that would be nice." Todays instruction seemed incredibly familiar. Sure, the cinnamon buns are freshly baked every day but the gloves. You were pretty sure they arrived yesterday. "I'm getting right to it." After putting on the oven gloves you opened the oven and pulled out a batch of freshly baked cinnamon buns. You were extra careful not to break of their ears when you placed them in the basked. The gloves, seeing that they are todays main attraction, were placed near the entrance so potenital customers could see them first thing. Once that was taken care of you procceded to clean the oven and baking sheet for their next use. After that you proceeded to refill the freezer with various frozen treats. While you were busy working in the background, numerous customers passed trough the shop. In bewtween various transactions and smalltalk you picked up on one small thing. A human was sighted outside of snowdin and was now on their way here. You checked the clock and realized that your shift was coming to an end. Once you recieved your pay, you bid goodbye to the owner and walked back home.

As you passed trough the village square you overheard various monsters talking. There was only one topic on their mind. The human that was sighted outside of snowdin. All of that seemed incredibly familiar too you and then it finally clicked. That same, overwhelming sense of déjà-vu from five years ago overcame you. It happened again and you didn't know why. It was as if the entirety of yesterday never happened. You sighed and entered your home. After eating dinner and taking a break you decided to visit the castle. You knew you already did it this week but since yesterday never seemed to have happened you also didn't visit the castle. With a bouquet of freshly picked flowers from the garden you made you way to the castle. As you were about to enter waterfall filled cave you felt someone tuck on your sleeve. It was the human, as expected. "I'm sorry for you loss." You stared at them wide-eyed. Did they just talk? You expression turned quite sour soon after. "How do you know about that?" They began to awkwardly shift on their feet. "I... well. It's complicated. I have to go." And they ran off. You sighed and continued your way to the castle. On your way you were stopped by Undyne and Mettaton, just as you remembered. After placing the bouquet of flowers, Asgore told you about everything. Despite already knowing about everything, you listened and pretented not to know a thing so you wouldn't cause any suspiciouns. Now, back on your way home, you passed the human once again. This time they didn't seem to pose a threat, wich only made you even more suspicous of them. You made a mental note to yourself to strike them down the moment they raise their fists against you. The remaining way home was without any noteworthy incidents. Everyone was alive and well and the peace of the underground seemed undisturbed. Once you arrived home, you decided to watch some tv to let the day end on an easy note. The day, altough not as exhausting as last time, was still quite tiring to you. At some point you must have dozed off, falling into a dreamless slumber.

Someone was knocking on the door and dragged you out of your, more or less, comfortable sleep. You opened the door and were met with the same human from earlier. "Can I help you?" You asked, quite unsure why the human was here. They searched trough their pockets and pulled out an all to familiar looking necklace. "Here, I want to give this to you." "How did you get that? Where did you get that?" You nearly shouted at them, shooting them a glare that could freeze hell all over. "I- I can't tell you but I know it means a lot to you." They blurted out, clearly terrified. After handing you the necklace they ran off, afraid that you might send them to kingdom come. You closed the door and retreated to your room. Asriel's necklace, the necklace that you made for him more than five years ago. How did they manage to get their hands on it? You simply sat on your bed, memories stinging like countless, tiny needles in your heart. It hurt terribly to hold his necklace and yet, it gave you a sense of closure. As you tilted the necklace, revealing the rainbow of colours, you clearly remembered Asriel's expression. The amazement in his eyes, how overjoyed he was. For a moment, you closed your eyes, overtaken by memories of days long past. Once you opened them again, you had the urge to go to the castle again. You didn't why but it felt as if something was calling you. So you made your way back to the castle, walking soon turning into running. Minutes later and you were approaching the throne room. Just as the throne came into sight you tripped over something. Once you recovered and stood back up you realized that you were no longer in the castle. You were standing on nothing, somewhere in the vast infinity of the cold, black void. But the void wasn't empty. Only a few steps infront of you stood the human and further ahead was... Asriel and he looked just like in the picture he showed you five years ago. For a moment you brain seemed to simply shut off and you ran towards him, your arms wide open as you were oblivious to the danger in front of you. You only realized what exactly was going on when you felt an unbearable pain shoot trough your body. A look around you quickly revealed that you ran straight into a sword. Every bit of strengh left your body and you no longer understood the world around you anymore. You crumbled away, leaving behind nothing more than a pile of dust and a shining amulet, glistering underneath the rainbow light of a hopeless battle.


	8. Resurrection

You wake up from your sleep with an undescribable feeling rushing trough your body. The only way you could describe it was as if you were being impaled by something. You vaguely remembered another weird dream, or rather nightmare. A human was there and they brought you Asriel's necklace. Asriel, he was there too but it seemed like he didn't recognize you. Then you woke up. It seemed as if things returned to how they were five years ago, when the days were on loop, time seemed non-existent and every past day felt like a fleeting dream. Again, you began to question everything you did, do and will do. What does it matter when, in the end, you'll just wake up as if nothing ever happened. You mentally slapped yourself and went on with your morning routine. Like the previous times there were pancakes for breakfast, new gloves arrived at the nearby store and a fallen human was the talk of town. This time however, everyone seemed scared. You were busy restocking shelves when you noted that the customers were becoming more and more sparse. Usually the cinnamon buns were nearly sold out by this time but now well over half of them were left. Your shift was coming to an end and in addition to your pay you were also allowed to take a few cinnamon buns with you. Delighted that you wouldn't have to make lunch today, you returned home. The village square seemed rather empty. Most residents that would normaly be out right now were hiding in their homes. You were taking a rest from todays work, watching tv while you were munching on a cinnamon bun. Just like last time you had to pay a visit to the castle. Roughly one hour later you got off the coush and left your home. 

With a bouquet of freshly picked flowers you began your way to the castle. Just as you were approaching the entrance to the waterfalls you witnessed something rather shocking. The human from your dreams simply murdered Papyrus as if it was nothing. They had a murderous aura around them as they watched papyrus crumble to dust. With a satisfied grin they turned around to look at you. That grin, you remembered it. It was the same grin Chara gave you the day before Asriel's death. Out of the blue they began charging at you, ready to strike you with whatever it was they had in their hands. With a simple step to the side you let their attack hit nothing but air. If it's fight they want, then it's a fight they'll have. You were surrounded by snow, or simply water, wich gave you a massive advantage. They charged at you again and you raised your hand, spikes of solide snow shooting upwards. If they hadn't jumped backwards they would be dead now. You continued your assault and launched countless, razor sharp, frozen needles at them. They struggled to dodge and took numerous hits. Realizing that they didn't stood much of a chance they ran away. You began to chase after them but lost them once they dissappeared in the woods around Snowdin. Beeing rather mad you returend to your way to the castle. Next time, they won't get away that easy. Snowdin seemed like a ghost town. Not a single soul, except your own, was around. You didn't know why exactly but you decided to check the shop. As you gently pushed open the door, you saw that the entire interior was sacked. The shelves were picked clean and the register was wide open. That human really knows no bounds. Unsure wether you'll ever return to Snowdin or not you decided to carry on, almost laughing at yourself for valueing your traditions over your own life.

Back on track you reached the point where things derailed. Sans was standing infront of what remained of Papyrus. Not wanting to bother him you decided to walk past him. Just as you passed him, he spoke up. "Why didn't you save him?"  
You stopped in your tracks, shooting him a rather sour expression. "Probably because it was already too late when I arrived, besides. I though you keep a close eye on your brother. Why didn't you intervene when you had the chance?" Sans remained motionless. "Because I was shaken to the BONE." You simply answered with a scoffing 'tch'. "You're pathetic, you know that. Can't protect the ones you hold dear, blame others for your failure and then try making jokes. You really are pathetic." He didn't show it but he knew you were right and it hurt. You continued on with your journey trough the waterfalls, passing numerous agitated monsters. Some of them were blocking your short cut, meaning you had to take the long way trough the waterfalls. The way led you trough a path overgrown with grass tall enough to hide a child. While you were traversing the overgrown terrain, you could fell a single piercing glare watching you. You looked up the elevated part of the cave and spotted Undyne. "Is there a reason you watching me like this?" You shouted towards her. "You are not supposed to be here. You should be with the others, wo are currently beeing evacuated." You simply rolled your eyes in response. "I can take care of myself, thanks." Undyne looked like she was about to respond with something but you were already gone. A short walk later and you reached the part of the waterfalls where it was constantly raining. You didn't bother picking up an umbrella since hotland was basicly right around the corner now. Halfway trough and you could see the castle from the distance, wondering why you never took the long route since the sight was amazing. A little further ahead and you were met with a ledge which you had to climb if you wanted to continue. This is probably the reason you never took the long route. Instead of climbing, you created blocks of ice to scale the ledge. 

You eventually reached the transition area between the waterfall and hotland but were stopped when sounds of battle emerged from behind you. It was the human fighting Undyne, you were sure of that. Unsure wether Undyne will be able to deafeat them you, after placing the bouquet on the nearby counter, decided to return either to help her or finish her job. Just as you reached the spot where the battle was taking place, you saw how the human finished off Undyne. It didn't seem as if they broke a sweat. They spotted you and gave a sickening grin. In response you simply materialized two razor sharp, frozen daggers. The charged at you, in ballet shoes, wearing a pink tutu. It looked utterly ridiculous and it was beyond you how they are supposed to harm you like that but if they want to dance, then you'll dance with them. You began with your attacks, swinging the blades at them while gracefuly moving. If it wasn't a matter of life and death it would be a beautiful sight to behold. The human was quick on their toes, jumping left and right, trying to kick you. You combined both, offence and defence by spinning, twisting, turning and slashing at them while jumping back and forth. The fight dragged on and your frozen daggers slowly took a light crimson hue. Once again the human decided to run away and once again you chased after them only to lose them once again. It seemed as if they simply dissapeared though the only place they could hide was in the water. Next time you would unleash everything you had at them. You continued your pilgrimage to the castle, grabbing your bouquet on the way. Hotland was beeing evacuated too though you had no idea where everyone went. Hotland seemed abandoned and its twisting paths desolate. Even the usual bustling MTT-Resort was devoid of any soul except the poor guy working overtime at the MTT brand fast food restaurant. 

You arrived at the castle, wich to your surprise wasn't under lockdown. Asgore walked past you as you approached the throne room, giving you a concerned look. As you did many times before, you placed the bouquet on the memorial. You stood there in silence, not a single thought crossing your mind, as the flower from years ago appeared behind you. "Why are you still here?" Flinching from the sudden breaking of the silence you turned around and looked at the flower infront of you. "What's it to you?" You responded, half threatening, half disinteristed. The flower simply scoffed. "Why am I here anyway. You're going to die anyway." It gave you a crazed smile but soon after seemed terrified when the human entered the throne room. The flower began to beg and barter for it's life but, in the end, was mercilessly cut down. This was it, the final showdown. Only you and the human were left alive. You didn't know the outcome or the aftermath but you knew that, no matter what, you had to win. With a quick motion of your hands you sealed the only way out with a thick layer of ice and once again summoned a pair of frozen daggers. "Bring it on!" You had one and only one goal. To kill the human infront of you. Death was not an option unless they've taken their last breath. They began by directly charging at you, swinging their knife. You simply blocked the attack and send them flying with a forceful kick to the gut, summoning a spike of ice behind them. The entire fight was far easier than you expected, maybe because you actually wanted to end their existence, unlike every monster before you. You closed your eyes and took a deep breath. When you opened them again you were facing the memorial, the wall of ice behind you gone and the human slowly approaching again. There was no way you could explain this. The human was supposed to be dead, you made sure they were. So how come they're standing infront of you right now. It was as if time shifted, jumping back to a moment in the past. Whatever the reason may be was irrelevant, you just had to kill them again.

Again, you closed off the entrance and summoned your pair of frozen daggers. As expected they began by charging at you. This time however, they jumped to the left and tried to flank you. You dogded and slashed back at them, nearly hitting them if they hadn't jumped back. Moving your arm back to you, you fired of a barrage of icicles. The human failed to anticipate your attack and took the entire barrage head on. They dropped to the ground, lifeless. Again, you found yourself at your starting position. Many times followed and the human survied longer and longer every time. The fight was going on for well over an hour now and the once beautiful throne room was turned into a glacial cave. During another barrage of attacks from your end you made one wrong step, leaving your defence open for just long enough so the human could get an attack in. You fell to your knees, a horrible ring in your ears from your blood loss. The human was taunting you as you sat there, only a few steps away from death. Slowly your body began to run cold and yet there was something burning inside you, growing stronger and stronger like a raging inferno. Death was not an option. Who knows what the human will do should they be allowed to leave the underground. While monsters might be history, humans still had a future, a future you were willing to fight for. Your body felt numb, cold and empty but you got back on your feet. You had to persevere and were determined to send the human back to the hell they crawled out of. The human simply laughed at you, convinced that this wouldn't even be worthy to be called a fight. And they would be right about their assumption.

You lifted you hand, drawing a crescent shape in the air with you index and middle finger. Both of them recieved several cuts as you sommoned a scythe sharp enought to cut trough steel with great ease. Not that it mattered anymore. Your blood ran dry and only two things keept you alive. Perseverance and determination. With a lightning fast motion you jumped towards the human, spinning in circles. You felt no impact, no resistance but you knew you hit them. When you looked up again, you found yourself back at the beginning. The entrance was open and the human slowly apporached again. This time you knew your true power, and immediatly dipped as far into them as you could. You began by spinning the scythe infront of you, switching between your left and right hand. The human, seemingly panicking, dodged between countless razor sharp blades you launchend at them. Finishing your assault, you covered huge portion of the ground infront of you with a thin sheet of ice. Just as the human began charging at you, the ice snapped and fromed several tiny spikes wherever it covered ground. The human was caught offguard and took another devestating hit, plumeting to the ground. Again, you found yourself where everything started. This time you didn't even let the human approach, attacking them the moment they were in sight. You didn't know how often you killed the human tough you'd guess it was hundreds of times by now. Eventualy you woke up in your bed. Realizing that you were now back at the beginning of the day, you proceeded with your routine. This time, the human was peaceful and everything went the way it did before this entire murder madness. 

You were on your way to the castle again and, as expected, were stopped by the human. They looked at you, a mixture off terror and guilt on their face. "I'm sorry." They muttered, as they looked to the ground. "One monster. If you harm as much as one monster, I WILL hunt you down and kill you as often as I have to. Understood." You said, not in a threatening way but much rather cold and factual. They simply nodded in response, seemingly accepting their fate if they step out of line. "Now, if you excuse me." You continued your way to the castle and were bothered by the same monsters as always and as always you placed the bouquet on the memorial and listened to Asgores story. Back home you lay down on the couch and watched tv. Just like last time, you were interrupted by someone knocking on the door. And just like last time, it was the human handing you the amulet. The urge to visit the castle came up again but this time you knew better. Minutes passed and suddenly you felt as if time jumped forwards, or maybe you just blacked out for whatever reason. Either way, it was much later suddenly. You were about to go to bed when someone knocked on the door again. It was, yet again, the human. They looked at you as if there was something they wanted to show you but realized that whatever they wanted to show you wasn't around. "I'll be right back." They walked away leaving you standing in the door, confused. "NO! I won't. I can't face him after everything I've done. There is no way I can." A familiar voice echoed from the townsquare and it made your heart sink to your stomach. Hesitantly you left your house and made your way to the middle of the town. 

There you saw him. Asriel was standing there, adamantly refusing to move. He seemed to have grown older despite the fact he was dead for five years. At first you thought your mind was playing tricks on you, that this was a dream, that it was anything but real. You stood there, frozen in place as Asriel noticed you. He looked terrified, guilty and heartbroken. An eternity and a half passed and you were simply starring at each other, until you broke loose and ran towards him. For once you were the one that could hold his excitement and you nearly tackled Asriel to the ground, locking him in your arms as if you could lose him again at any moment. He didn't know how to react, he didn't expect you to react this way. He though that you'd be terrified, angry, that you would cut him down right where he stood. And so, he started to cry, sobbing out explanations of what happened over the past years. How he died, what happened afterwards. What he has done to everyone and what he has done to you. The things you remembered, even if only in parts, and the things you didn't. You listened to everything he had to say and once he was done you responded with three simple words. "I forgive you." "But, why? How? How can you forgive me after everything I have done?" His disbelief was evident in his shaking voice. "Because it wasn't you that did all these things. You said you had no soul right? That means that everything that made you the way you are was gone." 

Asriel didn't argue against that. Instead he finally returend the hug, his chin resting behind your shoulder. "I missed you ____." He whispered. "I missed you too." More time was passed in silence. "I don't want to ruin this moment but I think it's time to meet up with the others." The human said. You sighed, not wanting this moment to end. "What do you mean?" The human gave you a confused look. "You don't know? The barrier is gone and monsters are free now." Your jaw dropped. After god knows how many years the barrier was gone. Finally you'd get to see what the surface had to offer. Just as you were about return to the castle, you realized that you nearly forgot something. "Can you guys wait for a moment. I gotta go and grab something from home." Not waiting for a response you ran back home and grabbed the necklace from a table in the living room. Back with the others you handed Asriel the necklace you gave him five years ago. You could swear you saw tears forming in his eyes as he put the necklace around his neck. About halfway to the castle you realized that you didn't even know the humans name. "Hey kid. What's your name by the way?" "It's Frisk." They responded rather plain. "Well, pleasure to meet you. Sorry if I appeared a little rude at first." You said awkwardly. "It's alright." Frisk reassured. A few minutes later and you arrived where the barrier once stood. Everyone seemed surprised and delighted to see Asriel alive and well. Especially his parents where overwhelmed and quickly pulled their now adult son into a group hug. Once everything settled down everyone left the underground. You and everyone else stood outside admireing the sunset, speechless at the beauty the surface had to offer. Asriel stood next to you, his head resting on your shoulder.

Three years passed since the liberation of monsters and their integration into human society was slowly progressing. At first humans were surprised, almost terrified, by the sudden appearence of a race believed to be long lost. But as time progressed more and more humans became accepting of them. Sure, there were die hard anti monster groups but they were in the minority. Bonds, both platonic and romantic, between humans and monsters became common sight and it seemed as if there was a bright new future ahead. Things were changing and you weren't spared by them either. After long night of debating, you and Asriel moved in together. It was nothing special. A simple house in a more rural part of town. You never said the words to eachother but both of you knew that a live without one another was unimaginable. Words weren't necessary to know how you felt for eachother since it was shown in your and Asriel's actions. One morning, he gently shooked you awake. "Hey ____, you know what day it is?" He clearly sounded excited. You turned around to look at him. "It's been exactly eight years since we first met, isn't it?" He shot you a cheerful smile. "Yep, exactly. I have something planed for today, something special." You raised an eyebrow. "Really?. Well, I better get dressed then, don't I?" You got out of bed and walked into the bathroom. After taking a shower, getting dressed and breakfast, Asriel began leading you somewhere. He was taking you back up the mountain and towards his old home, leading you trough the familiar old hallways he led you trough a little more than eight years ago. You remembered the stench of stale air. You were ontop of the old tower again, the place where Asriel told you about his fears of not beeing worthy of the throne. 

While you were busy gazing of the tower, looking over the various places you were so familiar with, Asriel began talking. "Do you remember the first time we were up here, how I told you about my fears?" "Yeah, I do." You answered, still watching the abandoned underground. "Back then, you promised me something. Do you remember what?" What is it with him asking all these questions? "Yeah. I promised you that I would be there for you, no matter what. I promised that, if I had to, I would rule over the underground with you. But what are you getting at?" You turned around and could swear that your heart skipped a million beats. Asriel was on one knee, holding a velvet cushioned box updwards. "Then how about we make it final. ____, I can't even begin to decribe how much you mean to me. The time I spent with you was the best time in my life and ever since you said you'd rule over the undergroud with me I couldn't help but think yes, I want it to be that way. I no longer have a kingdom to offer you but still, would you do me the honor and marry me?" You stood there, frozen in place, as Asriel looked up to you. A moment passed in silence and Asriels previously hopeful looked began to turn somber. It looked as if he was about to break down in tears. Then, it finaly clicked in your head. You lunged at him, throwing your arms around him as you tackled him to the ground. "YES, yes, yes, yes and a thousand times yes. I'd love nothing more than that." You didn't gave him a chance to react as you pressed your lips against his. Asriel was paralyzed, unable to fully understand what just happened. Several minutes passed until you finaly got off Asriel and helped him up. He placed the ring on your finger and pulled you into a hug. If eight years ago someone would have told you that you'd marry the prince one day, you'd have called them insane. If you had know about the consequences of befriending Asriel, you would have ran. But if you look back at everything that happened, all the convolution of time, the sleepless night and what not. You'd say that it was totally worth it.


End file.
